Military

Sharpshooters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group have become a threat in the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk in Iraq on the third day of clashes, with security forces still tracking down the militants.

Locals and journalists working in the field have been trapped in the streets due to concealed ISIL sharpshooters in the city. 

Turkey is not taking part in ground operation for the liberation of Mosul in Iraq, although Ankara has been in talks with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to declare a safe haven in the north of the country, Turkey's prime minister said.

"There are air and ground units in the coalition forces. Turkey will take part in the air units," Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said.  

Two police officers were killed and nine people were wounded in an outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attack late on Oct. 22 in the eastern province of Bingöl, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.        
         
PKK militants detonated a bomb-laden vehicle as a police vehicle carrying officers passed by at the entrance to Bingöl, according to security sources.

The United States wants to ramp up joint efforts with Turkey to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria, but expects Ankara to be part of integrated efforts with Iraq, according to the U.S. secretary of defense.

The U.S.-led coalition could not have achieved what it has achieved in Syria as of today without Turkey's support, CENTCOM commander Joseph Votel was quoted as saying on Oct. 19 by state-run Anadolu Agency.

Illustration

India has quietly completed its nuclear triad by inducting its first indigenously constructed nuclear submarine 'INS Arihant' into service.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is due to visit Turkey on Oct. 21, after Ankara and Washington agreed on Turkey's participation in coalition forces' aerial campaign in the Mosul offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).  

Carter will travel to Ankara as part of a weeklong Middle East and Europe trip, according to the Pentagon.   

Image from: bezbednost.org

BRUSSELS - Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic will visit the NATO headquarters in Brussels in late November to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the North Atlantic Council, the NATO headquarters officially confirmed to Tanjug on Tuesday.

The operation to save Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has begun. It is led by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi army, Shiite militias, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, some Sunni forces trained by Turkey, and of course the United States, which is coordinating the whole effort. Turkey, however, is rather angry about what is going on. Why?

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will in late November visit the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Beta reported on Tuesday that Vucic will meet with the Western military alliance's leaders and discuss "further cooperation between NATO and Serbia."