News / Turkey

Daesh hits Bashiqa camp of Turkish forces, 4 soldiers injured

Wednesday, 16 December 2015 7:16 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 16 December 2015 7:22 PM ]

Turkish soldiers stand guard by the border with Syria, on the way to Mursitpinar crossing gate in Suruc, Sanliurfa Province, June 25, 2015. (AFP photo)

Turkey’s troops deployed in northern Iraq have come under a rocket attack carried out by the Daesh Takfiri terrorists on a camp near the city of Mosul.

The Turkish army said on Wednesday that the attack targeted the Bashiqa camp, where the Turkish forces are stationed; they responded to the attack. The base is said to be used by Turkish forces to train anti-Daesh fighters.

“Four Turkish troops were wounded in a mortar attack against the military training camp near Mosul,” an unnamed Turkish official said.

The army added that the four were transferred to the southeastern province of Sirnak on the Turkish side of the border for treatment.

The military in a statement said the Katyusha rockets were fired during clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Daesh militants, hitting the camp at 3:10 p.m. local time (1310 GMT).

Earlier this month, Ankara announced the deployment of 150 troops to Bashiqa to protect the Turkish military officers who are reportedly training local Iraqi fighters against Daesh.

The move angered Iraq’s central government, which denounced the Turkish military presence as a violation of its sovereignty.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Baghdad had submitted a formal complaint to the UN Security Council (UNSC) regarding Turkey’s military moves in northern Iraq.

Iraqi protesters carry a banner representing the Iraqi flag during a demonstration demanding the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Iraq, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Iraq, December 12, 2015. (AP photo)

Over the past few days, thousands of Iraqi protesters have held demonstrations across the country to condemn the Turkish deployment of military forces. On December 11, Iraq’s top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani also called on the government to show “no tolerance” toward any party that violates the country’s sovereignty.

In a bid to ease tensions with Baghdad, Ankara withdrew an unspecified number of the troops this week and sent them to another base inside Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, but Baghdad says they should pull out completely.

The development comes as Turkey has time and again been accused of being one of the main supporters of the militant groups operating in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri militants there and facilitates their safe passage into the Arab country.

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