Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire a multiple rocket launcher from the top of Mount Zardak, about 25 km east of Mosul, as they take part in an operation against the IS. Pic/AFP

Irbil: Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said some 3,000 Turkish-trained Iraqi fighters have joined the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to wrest the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS). Kurtulmus also told reporters yesterday that Turkey has no intention of withdrawing its troops from a base in northern Iraq where they have been training Iraqi forces to fight the IS.