Four Turkish soldiers were wounded Wednesday when Islamic State (IS) jihadists fired mortars on a training camp near the Iraqi city of Mosul, Turkish officials said.

Two Iraqi volunteers, one of them an officer, were killed in the attack on the Bashiqa camp, where Iraqi anti-jihadist fighters are trained with Turkish help.

"We offer condolences to our Iraqi martyr brothers' families and the Iraqi people, and wish the injured a speedy recovery," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The military said it responded to the attack on the camp with fire of its own, adding that the four wounded Turkish troops had been taken for treatment in Sirnak province, on Turkey's side of the border.

"We are pleased to confirm that their condition is stable," a Turkish official told AFP on condition of anonymity, emphasising that the attack originated from IS-held territory.

The army said the attack it took place in the context of clashes between IS fighters and Kurdish peshmerga fighters at 3:10 pm (1310 GMT).

"This attack shows once again the importance of security measures for the contingent" in Bashiqa, the army said.

According to CNN-Turk, IS jihadists fired up to 60 mortar rounds over several hours.

One of the Turkish troops was seriously wounded but his life is not in danger, it added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also briefed by the army chief Hulusi Akar on the attack, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

- 'Multi-pronged attack'-

Iraqi Kurdish officials said the shelling in the Bashiqa area was part of a multi-pronged attack by IS attempting to break through lines held by peshmerga security forces in several separate areas around Mosul, the jihadists' main hub in Iraq.

IS used mortars, rockets, and car bombs ahead of ground attacks during the assault, which was ultimately foiled, said Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the ministry responsible for Kurdish peshmerga forces.

Turkey is widely perceived in Iraq's Shiite majority as complicit with IS, and Shiite militias have advocated using force against Turkish troops should the diplomatic track fail.

One of the most powerful among them, Ketaeb Hezbollah, said on its TV channel Etejah that it was responsible for the shelling of the Turkish base near Bashiqa on Wednesday.

The claim did not specify how the group might have achieved such range given that the northernmost front in which federal and allied militias are deployed is over 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the south.

Turkey earlier this month announced that hundreds of troops had been deployed at the Bashiqa camp to protect Turkish military who were training local Iraqi fighters seeking to recapture Mosul from the IS.

But the deployment outraged the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, which bitterly complained to Ankara and said it would take the issue to the UN Security Council.

In a bid to placate Baghdad, an unspecified contingent of the Turkish troops this week pulled out of the camp and headed northwards.

The move came after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last week sent foreign ministry under-secretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan to Baghdad on a mission to settle the tensions.

The Iraqi government on Tuesday demanded the "complete withdrawal" of Turkish forces from its territory, indicating Ankara's partial pullout the previous day was not enough.

By contrast, the deployment has been supported by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) which controls the northern Iraqi region and has excellent relations with Ankara.

Arab League to meet to discuss Turkish forces in Iraq
Cairo (AFP) Dec 16, 2015 - The Arab League said Wednesday it will hold an extraordinary meeting of its foreign ministers next week to discuss Turkeys deployment of forces in Iraq condemned by Baghdad as an illegal incursion.

Soldiers and tanks were sent to a military camp in northern Iraq earlier this month, a move Ankara said was necessary to protect forces carrying out training in the fight against the Islamic State group.

The meeting will be held on December 24 at the request of Iraq, the Cairo-based body's deputy chief, Ahmed Ben Heli, told reporters.

On Tuesday, Baghdad demanded the "complete withdrawal" of Turkish forces from its territory.

Turkish and Iraqi officials said forces and equipment were withdrawn Monday, but the trainers apparently remained, and Ankara has other military sites within northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday that "there has been a shifting of the (military) forces, and that Ankara did "what was necessary to do from a military point of view".

But Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu indicated that forces remained at the training site, saying the number of troops there and at other locations "may increase or decrease as required".

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has close ties with Ankara and is unlikely to back Baghdad in its efforts to see the Turkish forces go home.