A Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded in northern
Iraq on Saturday when rockets fired by Islamic State during clashes
with Iraqi Kurdish fighters landed in a base where Turkish troops were
deployed, the army said.
NATO member Turkey, part of the U.S.-led coalition against
Islamic State, sent troops to northern Iraq in December, citing
heightened security risks near Bashiqa, where its soldiers have been
training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamist militants. Baghdad objected
to the Turkish deployment.
"Islamic State targets identified in the region have been shot back at," the Turkish military said in a statement.
Hurriyet newspaper quoted a later statement saying the army
has fired artillery from the camp on Islamic State targets while
additional targets have been struck by Turkish warplanes and jets from
the U.S.-led coalition.
"Four Islamic State targets have been bombarded by warplanes
from the coalition forces. An additional of four targets have been
fired at intensely by Turkish warplanes and been destroyed," the
statement quoted by the paper said.
Saturday's incident came less than a week after Islamic
State militants attacked the Bashiqa military base, triggering a
retaliation from Turkey.
The Turkish army said on Saturday the rockets had landed
near the Gedu base area. Local sources said this referred to a site on
the frontline north of Mosul, near to Bashiqa.
Last week, backed by Kurdish peshmerga fighters and the
U.S.-led coalition, Iraqi forces launched an offensive against Islamic
State in the Makhmour area, southeast of Mosul, that was touted as the
start of a broader campaign to clear areas around the city.
Mosul is by far the largest population centre controlled by
the Islamic State militants and has already been cut off on three sides
by the Kurdish peshmerga, who are less than 15 km (9 miles) from its
northern outskirts at some points along the front line.
Iraqi officials say they will retake Mosul this year.
However many question in private whether the army, which partially
collapsed when Islamic State overran a third of Iraq in June 2014, will
be ready in time.
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