Canada says Iraqi forces must become much more effective

By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, one of the nations helping Iraq to fight the Islamic State movement, said on Monday that recent gains by the militants showed the Iraqi army must "massively improve its effectiveness". Defence Minister Jason Kenney also said Canada has no plans to expand its existing training operations in northern Iraq, where around 70 Canadian special forces troops are working with Kurdish peshmerga fighters. Islamic State forces easily took the strategic city of Ramadi earlier this month, prompting U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to say the Iraqi army had shown no will to fight. "Unfortunately the situation in Ramadi is clearly a setback and a wake-up call for the Iraqi military to massively improve its effectiveness," Kenney told reporters. He said in the last six months, Iraqi forces had recaptured around 25 to 30 percent of the territory lost to Islamic State. But he added: "We agree with the American assessment, that they need to do more, they need to do better." Kenney said Canada would stick to helping train the Kurdish forces on the grounds that other members of the U.S.-led coalition are working with Iraqi forces in the south and center of the country. As well as the training mission, six Canadian fighter bombers are attacking Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria. The Canadian involvement is due to end in March 2016, but officials say the mission could be extended. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Galloway)