'Immediately withdraw troops'

Baghdad yesterday demanded the immediate withdrawal of forces it said Turkey illegally sent into Iraq, which is struggling to assert its sovereignty while receiving foreign assistance against the Islamic State group.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu played down the military activity as "routine rotation activity" and "reinforcement against security risks", while also labelling any misinterpretation as a "provocation".

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said that Ankara was "establishing a base in the Bashiqa region of Mosul with 600 soldiers".

The troops, which Baghdad said had tanks and artillery, were sent to the camp in Nineveh province, some 80 kilometres from the Turkish border, where Ankara's forces have been training Sunni fighters hoping to retake Mosul from the jihadists.

Turkey has other camps in Iraq, but they are inside the official borders of the autonomous Kurdish region, while the site near Mosul is in an area claimed by both Kurdistan and Baghdad.

Iraq's foreign ministry said Turkish forces entered the country "without the knowledge of the central government in Baghdad" and that it had summoned Ankara's ambassador to protest, while President Fuad Masum termed the deployment a "violation of international law."

The development came after US on Wednesday announced the deployment around 100 special forces personnel to Iraq to fight the Islamic State which Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi termed as a "hostile act".

In Syria, British jets have carried out their second set of air strikes on the Omar oil fields, using two Tornados and, for the first time, two Typhoons.

Meanwhile, the French defence minister has warned that there is an increasing risk of Libya becoming a haven for combatants from Islamic State. Le Drian ruled out military intervention in Libya but warned the West had to try to foster Libyan unity in the face of such a threat.