ISIL attacks Iraq base, four Turkish soldiers wounded

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) carried out an attack against a Sunni military camp in the Bashiqa region of northern Iraq, wounding four Turkish soldiers. 

Two Peshmerga soldiers were also reportedly killed. 

The Turkish soldiers were slightly injured in the attack before they responded with howitzer fire, Turkey's general staff said in a statement, highlighting the importance of the security at the base. 

It said that some Katyusha ÇNRA projectiles fell into the camp in the Bashiqa region during the clashes between ISIL and Peshmerga forces at around 3 p.m.

The injured soldiers were rushed to a hospital in ??rnak, a Turkish province over the border, and are in good a condition, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. 

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu was briefed about the clashes by the Turkish General Staff, sources said.

The reported mortar attack, which lasted three hours, targeted the Gudad military base in the town of Bashika, in Iraq's Mosul province, former Mosul Governor Atheel Nojaifi stated, according to Kurdish news agency Rudaw, which said two Iraqis were killed during the firing of up to 60 mortar rounds. 

Iraqi Kurdish official Hemin Hawrami said on Twitter that Peshmerga forces had repelled multiple attacks on Dec. 16 by the militants, who deployed nine car bombs and eight suicide attacks. Seven Peshmerga were killed, he said.

The Turkish soldiers' presence in Iraq recently turned into a row between the two neighboring countries. 

The additional deployment of Turkish troops to the Bashika camp near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul earlier this month started angry exchanges between the two capitals. 

Turkey said on Dec. 14 that that some of its troops...