Biden Urges Turkey to Withdraw From Iraq Any Forces Unauthorized by Baghdad

The Iraqi security forces, the Kurdish government forces known as the Peshmerga, the Sunni tribes and the popular mobilization troops are at times at odds as they try to battle IS.

The Obama administration has been talking for days about “accelerating” the fight against IS, but that could be complicated by Iraq’s reluctance to a greater US presence in the country, including tools such as Apache helicopters and more troops.

Turkey has in the past 20 years made numerous incursions into northern Iraq to pursue fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who say they are fighting to create a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey.

A Turkish official says the attack “originated” from Islamic State-held territory.

One of the Turkish troops was seriously wounded but his life is not in danger, it added.

But the deployment outraged the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, which bitterly complained to Ankara and said it would take the issue to the UN Security Council.

He also welcomed Saudi Arabia’s announcement of a new 34-nation Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was briefed about the clashes by the Turkish General Staff, sources said. Iraq Foreign Ministry summoned Ambassador of Turkey to Iraq and demanded that Turkey must immediately take out its forces from the northern regions of the country. Though the United States generally backs Turkey, a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, in all things, concerns about the weakening Abadi government may force them to back Iraq in this case.

Earlier in the day, Carter arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit with the aim of meeting the US commanders in Iraq and with Iraqi leaders.

Vice President Joe Biden is calling on Turkey to withdraw any military forces that Iraq’s government hasn’t authorized.

Turkey’s military said the camp was hit by Katyusha rockets fired by IS militants during a battle with Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

Since Baghdad lodged its protest, Turkey has halted additional deployments and pulled out an unspecified number of the troops it had recently sent to bolster its ranks at the camp.

Washington welcomed the withdrawal as “an important step to de-escalate recent tensions”. A key US priority is for Turkey to finally close a stretch of its border with Syria that IS controls on the Syrian side, denying the extremist group a crucial corridor for funneling foreign fighters into Syria.