AMMAN, Jordan – Iraq's envoy to Jordan says Baghdad will send planes and buses to bring home 520 Iraqis who fled to Jordan after the US-led invasion in 2003.

Saad al-Hayyani says the Iraqis asked for “help to return” after security improvements in Iraq. He says no one is being “forced” to return. Groups will start leaving in September.

An estimated 2.5 million Iraqis fled their homeland amid the turmoil that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion, around 700,000 of them settling in Jordan. Some 13,000 have returned to Iraq in recent months since the easing of violence, according to the International Organization of Migration.