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2nd LD: Some Turkish troops leaving camp near Iraq's Mosul

Xinhua, December 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Some Turkish troops deployed in northern Iraq are leaving a camp near Iraq's second largest city of Mosul on Monday, Turkish and Iraqi media reported.

A convoy of nearly 10 vehicles left the Bashiqa Camp on Monday morning and traveled to another region in northern Iraq, Turkey's Anatolia news agency said.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Sumaria News agency quoted Kurdish lawmaker Salim al-Shabaki as saying that the Turkish troops have started withdrawing their armored vehicles and tanks from Zilgan training camp in Bashiqa.

"Only Turkish advisors and technicians remained in the camp," al-Shabaki said, adding that the withdrawal came after agreement between the Baghdad federal government and the regional government of Kurdistan.

Rudaw, a Kurdish media website, reported "a Turkish military convoy, loaded with heavy military equipment and tanks, was seen travelling toward Ibrahim al-Khalil crossing point on the Iraqi-Turkish border.

The troops movement came after Iraq's strong reaction to the deployment of the Turkish troops to Bashiqa, which Ankara says was aimed at training Sunni forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants.

Baghdad appealed to the United Nations Security Council on Friday, repeating its demand of an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all Turkish troops from northern Iraq, calling Turkey's military incursion a "flagrant violation" of international law.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry said Turkish forces had entered Iraqi territory without the knowledge of Baghdad, which viewed their presence as a "hostile act."

The Turkish move Monday came four days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq is out of the question and that the Turkish soldiers are in Iraq as part of a training mission.

The deployment of Turkish troops dates back to 2002 and additional troops were deployed in 2014 in response to a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Erdogan told a press conference.

"Turkish troops in Mosul are not there as combatants; they are trainers," Erdogan said. "It is out of the question, for now, to pull them out."

Mosul, the capital of Iraq's Nineveh province, has been under IS control since June 2014. Endit