Iraq to liberate IS-seized Mosul without help from foreign troops

The Iraqi defense minister on Wednesday said the Iraqi forces will liberate the city of Mosul, which has been captured by the Islamic State (IS) militants, without assistance from foreign forces.

"All the battles to the city of Mosul will be carried out by Iraqi forces exclusively; in planning, timing and execution," the Iraqi minister, Khalid al-Obiedi, told reports at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ismet Yilmaz in Baghdad.

"Iraq will not ask for assistance of any other forces for the battles against IS militants," Obiedi said, adding that the U.S.-led coalition will be restricted on the air support.

For his part, Yilmaz said the Iraqi government, headed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, is representing all Iraqi factions, and that Turkey pledges to "cooperate with Iraq in the areas of security and intelligence to stop the expansion of terrorism in the region."

Turkish defense minister arrived in Baghdad earlier in the day for an official two-day visit. He is to hold talks with Iraqi leaders over the military actions against the IS militant group.

Yilmaz arrived in Baghdad just a day after his country sent two plane-loads of non-lethal military aid to Iraq, including camouflage desert caps, assault vests, helmets, sleeping bags, blankets for 500 soldiers, and 50 cold weather tents, according to the Turkish semi-official Anatolia news agency.

The Turkish minister will later fly to the city of Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, for talks with the Kurdish leaders.

Yilmaz's visit also came as the Iraqi security forces have been launching a major offensive in Salahudin province to free its key cities and towns from the IS militants.

The extremist group has controlled the country's northern province of Nineveh in early June last year and seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit