Islamic State militants on Wednesday attacked a training camp in Iraq for fighters battling the extremist group, killing three Iraqi Sunni fighters and wounding 10 people, including four of their Turkish trainers, officials said.
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The Turkish military said it responded to the attack on the Bashiqa camp – used to train Iraqi anti-jihadist fighters with Turkish help – with fire of its own. Turkey has stationed troops at a base outside of the Iraqi city of Mosul since a year ago as part of a training mission coordinated with the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
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Kurdish forces last month retook the nearby town of Sinjar from IS, cutting the main road between Mosul and Raqqa, the capital of IS’s self-proclaimed caliphate.
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Turkey has welcomed the formation in Saudi Arabia of a 34-nation military coalition to fight terrorism.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called it the “best response to those who are trying to associate terror and Islam” and said it was a “step in the right direction”.
“Iraqi authorities call upon Turkey to withdraw immediately from Iraqi lands”.
The Turkish soldiers’ presence in Iraq recently turned into a row between the two neighboring countries.
The US, which has around 3,500 troops in Iraq now, has said it is willing to deploy advisers and attack helicopters to help Iraq retake Ramadi, west of Baghdad. But Abadi has resisted, arguing foreign forces aren’t needed to fight IS in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter offered Iraqi leaders increased US support and firepower Wednesday in hopes of bolstering the battle against Islamic State militants who still control some of Iraq’s largest cities.
Turkey is a member of the coalition, but has not carried out aerial attacks in Iraq. Biden welcomed that initial withdrawal, but insisted it must continue.
In a bid to placate Baghdad, an unspecified contingent of the Turkish troops this week pulled out of the camp and headed northwards.
“The Vice President reiterated that any foreign military presence in Iraq must be with the full consent of the Iraq government”, read a statement from the White House on December 14.
Iraqi Kurdish officials said the shelling in the Bashiqa area was part of a multi-pronged attack by IS attempting to break through lines held by peshmerga forces in several separate areas around Mosul.
Turkey denies the charges.
A U.S.-led worldwide coalition has been conducting air strikes on IS targets in both Iraq and neighboring Syria.
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But a decision to employ the helicopters – like a move to embed USA advisers with lower-level Iraqi units – would draw the United States even deeper into the war and would expose US troops to greater risk.
