Turkish troops have repelled an attack by ISIS jihadists on a camp used to train Iraqi fighters outside the city of Mosul in Iraq, a Turkish government source said Friday.
“There was an exchange of fire around the Bashiqa camp and Daesh launched an attack which was repelled,” a Turkish government source told AFP, using another name for ISIS.
Several jihadists were killed in the clash late Thursday, the source said, adding that no Turkish soldier was wounded or died. Turkish media reports said 17 ISIS fighters were killed.
Turkish forces have been using the Bashiqa camp to train local Iraqi fighters to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.
But their presence, while welcomed by the local authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, has become a bone of contention with the central Iraqi government which angrily called for the Turkish troops to leave.
Turkey in December withdrew some of the troops after also coming under US pressure. But it is unclear how many remain at the camp.
Four Turkish soldiers were wounded on December 16 when ISIS jihadists fired mortars on the training camp, in an attack that also left two Iraqis dead.
