Iraq denies Turkish participation in Mosul operation

 Ongoing tensions between Turkey and Iraq have intensified after Turkey said its troops fired artillery rounds at ISIS targets near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, following a request by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Binali Yildirim, Turkish prime minister, said on Sunday that Turkish troops stationed outside Mosul had provided support "with artillery, tanks and howitzers" following a request by Peshmerga forces.

However, Iraq's joint-operations command on Monday denied Turkey's claims.

"The spokesman of the Joint Operations Command denies Turkish participation of any kind in operations for the liberation of Nineveh," a statement said, referring to the Iraqi province of which Mosul is the capital.

Later in the day, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, said Turkish artillery fire had killed 17 ISIS fighters since the battle began and that four Turkish F-16 fighter jets were on standby to take part.

Turkey's parliament voted last month to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat "terrorist organisations".

About 500 of these troops are stationed in the Bashiqa camp, training Kurdish and local Arab fighters.

"Peshmerga forces took action to clear the town of Bashiqa from ISIS," Yildirim said.

"They asked for help from our troops at the Bashiqa camp and we are supporting them with artillery, tanks and Firtina howitzers."

Mosul, home to up to 1.5 million people, has been the headquarters of ISIS' self-declared caliphate in northern Iraq since 2014.

The battle for the city, which started earlier this month, is likely to shape the post-ISIS Iraq.

Thousands of Peshmerga forces are currently involved in a massive push around the town of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul, where Turkey has its military base.

Only weeks before Iraqi troops and their local and international partners started their push to retake Mosul, Abadi gave warning that Turkey risked "triggering a regional war" by trying to keep its troops within Iraq's borders.

Abadi's government requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the issue, and both countries summoned each other's ambassadors in a mounting diplomatic standoff.

Speaking in Ankara last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey did not want to be part of any sectarian conflict in Iraq.

"If we say we want to be both at the table and in the field, there is a reason," he said.

Erdogan also said his country has a "historical responsibility" in the region.