Denmark tells U.N. it has trained radar on Syria

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark told the United Nations it was "taking necessary and proportionate measures" against Islamic State in Syria, which the foreign ministry later said involved training radar located in Iraq on the neighboring country. Denmark had previously contributed seven F-16 fighter jets which carried out bombing missions in Iraq against Islamist militants. It pulled those jets out in September for rest and maintenance and expects them to return in the spring of 2016. "Denmark had a radar contribution - this can look, of course, into Syria. This was the contribution while we wait for the planes," a foreign ministry spokesman said. The letter to the UN was dated Jan. 11 but made public on Monday. "The Kingdom of Denmark ... is taking necessary and proportionate measures against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da’esh) in Syria," it said. Following attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State, with some perpetrators having fought in Syria during its 5-year civil war, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said: "We must get the Danish F-16 fighter planes back as fast as possible. The government wishes that they return with a broader mandate, to make it possible to fight ISIL, wherever they may be whether on one or the other side of the border to Syria." (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki and Teis Jensen)