(Changes sourcing, adds background)
PRAGUE, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The Czech government approved supplying ammunition to Kurdish forces in Iraq, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, to help them fight Islamic State insurgents who have overrun wide areas of northern Iraq.
The spokesman said it was agreed to send ammunition for Kalashnikov assault rifles and machine guns, as well as hand grenades and ammunition for rocket-propelled grenades.
The Czech news agency CTK said the ammunition, worth about $2 million, would be transported to Iraq by U.S. forces.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Canada and Albania had committed to providing "arms and equipment" to Kurdistan, a part of northern Iraq whose forces are allied with the central Baghdad government against Islamic State.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said earlier on Wednesday that Berlin would decide on Sunday on its contribution to forces fighting Islamic State, whose territorial advances threaten to dismember Iraq. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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