Turkish soldiers killed 17 Islamic State (IS) militants in late Thursday while the IS group tried to leak into a military training camp in the Bashiqa region of Mosul province of Iraq, local Hurriyet Daily News reported on Friday.

Turkish soldiers suffered casualties as they repelled the attack, which is the third assault since December against the military camp which is relatively close to IS-held Mosul, according to the report.

The IS militants launched their first attack on the military camp on Dec. 16 just after Turkey deployed around additional 150 troops to the Bashiqa area in December earlier with aim of training an Iraqi Sunni militia to fight IS. In a second assault on Dec. 27, five Turkish soldiers were injured.

The deployment in Iraq, however, have caused a row between Turkey and Iraq as the latter claimed the presence of Turkish troops to the camp was violation of the country's sovereignty. Enditem

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