WATCH: New Zealand Army Performs The Haka In Iraq

Soldiers from the New Zealand Army have performed a traditional haka to welcome the colleagues taking over their duty in training Iraqi Army soldiers at the Baghdad Fighting School.

They have been deployed to Iraq in a non-combat role for the last six months.

British soldiers have similarly been training Iraqi soldiers at Camp Taji, alongside their Kiwi counterparts. 

Lieutenant Colonel Jason Hutchings, Senior National Officer for the New Zealand Army, explained the significance of performing the haka: "What we're showing is that we're warriors and that the next task group has to meet our courage and meet our mana [power].

"So that's why they haka back to us afterwards.

"Sometimes you see that we close in on each other quite closely, in quite an aggressive way, but of course we're all friends at the end of the day.

"It's been really cool working with the UK, with the Czech Republic, the Singaporeans, and of course our Aussie mates.

"Working very closely with the Baghdad Fighting School... enhancing [its] capacity to train Iraqi Army soldiers."