Turkish Baqshiq camp comes under fire, Davutoglu justifies deployment

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Five Turkish military personnel were wounded when their camp at Iraq's Bashiqa came under fire on Sunday.

Islamic State (ISIS) militants are the prime suspect for the attack that also killed one Iraqi national, reported Hurryiet Daily.

Sunday's attack was the second of its kind this month.

Earlier this month ISIS militants fired a barrage of katyusha rockets at the camp at the same time as a multi-pronged offensive against the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Meanwhile on Sunday Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed in a televised address that Turkish forces will remain in the north of Iraq until Mosul has been liberated from ISIS. 

"In line with appeals from Iraqi authorities, we are providing training and equipment to both the Peshmerga and local volunteers from Mosul," said Davutoglu. "Our support will continue until Mosul is liberated."

The Prime Minister claimed that Iraq has not taken adequate measures to combat the ISIS threat.

Relations between Ankara and Baghdad soured over the deployment of Turkish troops to the camp near Mosul which Baghdad was unauthorized and called upon the United Nations Security Council to force the Turks to withdrawal. 

Davutoglu once again justified the deployment as a necessary security precaution, insisting, "The basic goal of the troops that we additionally sent to the region is to better protect our trainees on duty against Daesh and Mosul's people."

"As long as the threat of terror remains, we will continue to be on full alert in a way that will not endanger our presence there in any way," he declared. 

His remarks come as Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit the Saudi capital Riyadh to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.

The two men are expected to discuss the Syrian crisis as well as a fledgling 34-state Sunni counter-terrorism alliance the Saudis recently announced.