ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – At least 60 Turkish soldiers and 20 Sunni militiamen have reportedly been poisoned at a military base near the town of Bashiqa north of Mosul, according to a local Kurdish official, who said that the Islamic State (ISIS) is believed to have spoiled the bases’ water supply.
Khairi Khidir, manager of Shekhan hospital, told Rudaw that around “20 soldiers, who are [Sunni] Hashd al-Watani soldiers, were poisoned and admitted to our hospital.”
Khidir added that according to the information obtained by them “another 60 Turkish soldiers became ill while at the base. Some of them received treatment from us while others were rushed back to Turkey.”
Khidir went on to say that “we could not immediately identify the reason for their illness en masse.”
An estimated 1,500 Sunni volunteers have been receiving military training from Turkish personnel at the Gudadi military base in Bashiqa, which Sunni officials claim will be a crucial part of pushing back ISIS militants from Mosul.
About 300 Turkish troops with heavy weapons, tanks, and armored vehicles have been stationed at the base to train the Sunni militias.
A military source inside the base told Rudaw that now everybody at the base "is reluctant because they believe ISIS has poisoned the base's water, aimed at the Turkish soldiers specifically."
However, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Yahya, head of the Gudadi base in Bashiqa rejected the notion that the soldiers have been poisoned, claiming instead that they "became ill due to high temperatures and overheated water."
The base is only 30 kilometers northeast of Mosul city and was established by the former Mosul governor Aseel Nujaifi.
Hashd al-Watani was initially established to recruit Sunni fighters who were willing to take part in an assault on ISIS in Iraq’s Sunni heartland of Mosul.
The base has been a frequent target for ISIS midrange missiles that have so far killed at least four Sunni fighters and wounded 28 others, according to military officials at the base.
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