Turkish army base in Mosul for Iraqi forces training - spokesman

IRBIL, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed Saturday that the Turkish military base in Mosul outskirts is assigned for training the Iraqi forces.
Turkey has opened two military training facilities last year for the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Soran district, northern Irbil, and Kalacholan district of Sulaymaniyah province, in addition to opening another training facility in Nineveh province, north of Iraq, to train Iraqi forces, Safeen Dizayee, KRG official spokesman, said in a statement posted on KRG's website.
"Turkey has already trained Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces. Presence of further Turkish troops is aimed at expanding training program," said Dizayee.
Meanwhile, Turkish military sources said today that Turkey's General Staff will continue to train Peshmerga forces in four different areas of the north Iraq region despite Iraqi authorities' demand of Ankara to pull its troops, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).
Turkish army sources said Saturday that they had been training fighters across four provinces in northern Iraq to combat so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
According to the Turkish military, Peshmerga forces have been trained against homemade explosives and to use heavy machine guns, mortars and artillery. They also received first-aid training.
Ankara deployed around 150 Turkish troops on Friday to replace training forces in Mosul, northern Iraq. Along with the troops, 20 to 25 tanks were also dispatched to the area. (end) sbr.ta.ma