Iraqi Defence Ministry tells men and women to report for training

The Iraqi Defence Ministry has called on all Iraqi men and women "to head for the branches of the Arab Socialist Baath Party and sign up for popular training", INA news agency said on Sunday.

It said the training would be conducted in all the governates from 1st February.

A ministry official said the call was also applicable to retired officers and noncommissioned officers "to win the honour of training the sons of the people.

They should head for the commands of the governates to receive instructions".

The source said that men would undergo training from 1600 to 1900 and women, from 1500 to 1800.

The call follows President Saddam Husayn's decision to call a popular mobilization, which was reported on Saturday, following his speech on the crisis over UN weapons inspections.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.