The letter made no mention of asking for soldiers to be sent, NATO sources added.

"Mr Allawi has indeed sent a letter to the alliance asking for NATO assistance, in the form of training and other forms of technical assistance," the official told AFP.

The letter was received Monday and has been transmitted to NATO member states for consideration by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, added the official, requesting anonymity.

The request comes days ahead of a North Atlantic Treaty Organizationsummit in Istanbul next week at which the United States is pressing for the alliance to play a greater role in Iraq.

US President George W. Bush recently suggested that the US-led alliance could help train Iraqi security personnel and the new army, an area in which it has considerable expertise.

At this month's G8 summit, French President Jacques Chirac appeared to leave open that possibility, while affirming that intervention in Iraq was not NATO's job.

Asked what sort of training NATO could provide, the official at the alliance's Brussels headquarters said: "I would guess it would go in the direction of armed forces.

"NATO is not really in the police business," he said.

The official declined to predict what the response will be from NATO leaders preparing to gather in Istanbul for the two-day summit next Monday.

"I can't anticipate decisions that will take place at Istanbul," he said. "But certainly allies are considering the request and discussing it and will have of course a very fulsome discussion on this subject at Istanbul."

The now 26-member alliance was plunged into the most serious crisis of its 55-year history in the run-up to last year's Iraq war, when a group of countries led by France and Germany opposed US plans for NATO to help Turkey.

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