New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is on her way to the Middle East to visit New Zealand Defence Force troops, The Dominion Post reported in Wellington Wednesday.

A spokesman for the prime minister was quoted as saying that for security reasons it was not possible to say exactly where she will visit.

New Zealand has 66 NZ Defence Force staff in Iraq. Up to 15 are with the United Nations demining mission and a further 61 on a British-led humanitarian and reconstruction team working in southern Iraq.

A further 40 air force personnel deployed in the Arabian Sea on maritime interception and surveillance operations in support of the international war against terrorism are due to return next month.

Seven staff officers are deployed on a British-led mission in Afghanistan that is monitoring the peace and re-establishment of a legitimate government following a United States-led response to the September 11 attacks.

New Zealand also has seven observers based in Jerusalem and 27 training and transport staff in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

The paper said that Clark was expected to return by the end of the week.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2003)