Turkish hackers launch their own Mosul operation

A group of Turkish hackers attacked Iraqi government websites as a reaction to Prime Minister Haidar al-Abad's statements against the Turkish military presence in Bashiqa camp near Mosul.

The hacker group, who called themselves the Turk Hack Team (THT), had conducted a powerful DDos attack on many official websites belonging to the Iraqi government.

Websites with the extensions of gov.iq were detected as many of the sites played Ottoman Military Marches (Mehter Marşı), while some others display a Turkish map that includes Mosul and Kirkuk as a part of the Turkish Republic.

The cyber-attack by the THT group comes days before the Mosul operation and coincides with the dispute between Ankara and Baghdad over Turkey's military involvement in the operation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed on Tuesday that the Turkish military would join the operation and would continue to stay in Bashiqa camp near the northern Iraqi city.

He also slammed Iraqi PM Haidar Al-Abadi for attacking the Turkish president personally.

Ankara said an operation to liberate Mosul without Turkey's military could create a more dangerous situation for the city inhabitants.

Turkey's army has been training local fighters and Peshmerga forces for more than 2 years in the camp around 20 kilometers from the Daesh stronghold to fight against the terror group.