Australia commits troops and aircraft to campaign to defeat Islamic State

Australia became the first country to detail troop numbers and aircraft for a US-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq, as Washington drums up support for global action to counter the terrorist threat.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday a 600-strong force comprising some 400 air force personnel and 200 special forces soldiers would be deployed to a US military base in the United Arab Emirates.

A number of countries have responded to US President Barack Obama's call to join a coalition against Islamic State, but Australia is the first to publicly provide specific troop numbers and military hardware.

Obama is leading an effort to form a coalition of Western allies and Gulf Arab states to take on the extremist group, whose savage methods have included beheading two American journalists and a British aid worker.

Abbott said along with the troops, Australia would send eight Super Hornet fighter jets, an early warning and control aircraft and an aerial refuelling aircraft. He said they would be deployed in the coming days.

A task group of military advisers to assist Iraqi and other security forces fighting the militants would form part of the deployment but Abbott said he had not yet made the decision to commit troops to combat action.

"I have to warn the Australian people that should this preparation and deployment extend into combat operations, that this could go on for quite some time," he told reporters in the northern city of Darwin.