Iraq has urged NATO to make good on its offer as a matter of urgency given the daily bombings and shootings that continued to plague the country four weeks since the new interim government took over from the US-led occupation.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed at its summit in Istanbul last month to train Iraqi forces but was vague on the exact nature of the promised assistance or how and where it would be delivered.

"I strongly hope for (a decision) this week," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Brussels.

The United States is pressing for major NATO participation in Iraq but France is opposed to any aid that would establish a NATO presence there, and Germany also has made it clear it will not send troops into the country.

WAR.WIRE