A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces stands guard at a security point on Bashiqa mountain, overlooking ISIL held territories of Mosul, in this March 2015 photo. (Photo: Reuters)
Iraq‘s joint operations command denied on Saturday that Turkish forces based in northern Iraq had been attacked by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or had clashed with the militants, refuting a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“The joint operations command denies there was a terrorist attack on the position of Turkish forces in Bashiqa by the terrorist Daesh (ISIL) recently,” said a news flash on state television, referring to a military base near Mosul.
“The joint operations command denies what was relayed in some media outlets from the Turkish president about clashing between the Turkish forces inside Iraqi territory and the terrorist Daesh whether in Bashiqa or any other areas,” another flash said.
Erdoğan said on Friday that an attack by ISIL on the military base where Turkish troops are training an Iraqi Sunni militia showed Turkey’s decision to deploy troops there was justified.