Turkey says IS attack on its Iraq base repelled

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday attacked a much-debated Turkish military base near the town of Bashiqa in Nineveh Province of Iraq, reported Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu news agency.

Turkey’s military presence 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of the IS stronghold of Mosul has been the center of a brewing political crisis between the governments of Iraq and Turkey.

The Gedu camp where nearly 150-200 Turkish soldiers are training a force of Sunni anti-IS fighters came under attack with “a shell fired from a mortar terrorists captured from [the] Iraqi Army,” claimed the agency citing unidentified sources in the area.

No casualties were reported in the aftermath of the attack.

Soldiers at the camp responded to IS and destroyed one of its positions, said Anadolu adding that a Turkish Stinger missile downed an unmanned aerial vehicle used by the militants.

Last week, the Iraqi Parliament harshly condemned Turkey in a session where it called for a complete withdrawal of the latter’s forces from its soil.

The move led to back-and-forth accusations between the two sides as Turkey insisted its military was in Iraq since December 2015 to protect the Sunni population against possible Shia militia participation in the Mosul offensive.

On Friday, US Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter IS Brett McGurk stated all military activities in Iraq had to be with the “full consent and coordination” of the Government of Iraq.

“We do not do anything in Iraq as a coalition without the consent of the Government of Iraq,” said McGurk.

The Special Envoy was speaking at a press briefing in Washington, DC calling for the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany