"What has been reported in the media is a step in the right direction," Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was quoted as saying in a statement from his office.

"We will carry on our process with the (UN) Security Council until a full withdrawal is achieved," he added.

Turkey announced on Saturday that it had begun withdrawing troops in a bid to de-escalate a bitter row with Baghdad and following a call from US President Barack Obama.

"Taking into account the sensitivities on the Iraqi side... Turkey will continue the process it has already begun to withdraw its troops stationed" near Mosul, the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Earlier this month, Turkey deployed troops to a base in Nineveh province where it has a long-running training programme for forces battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

Ankara insisted the deployment was routine and necessary to protect the trainers, while Baghdad said it was unauthorised and protested to the Security Council.

In a phone call on Friday, Obama urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to continue the pullout and "to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq".

Obama urges Turkey's Erdogan to withdraw troops from Iraq
Washington (AFP) Dec 18, 2015 - President Barack Obama urged Turkey's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pull troops out of Iraq Friday, amid a row that has split key members of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

Obama "urged President Erdogan to take additional steps to deescalate tensions with Iraq, including by continuing to withdraw Turkish military forces," the White House said after a phonecall between the two leaders.

Obama also "reinforced the need for Turkey to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq."

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

Perennially embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has faced intense political pressure to end the Turkish deployment.

US-led coalition strike may have killed Iraqi soldiers: US military
Washington (AFP) Dec 18, 2015 - An air strike by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State may have killed Iraqi soldiers on Friday, the US military said, in what was likely the first "friendly fire" incident in the war on the extremists.

It appears to be the same incident which Iraq's joint operations command earlier said left 10 Iraqi soldiers killed or wounded south of the jihadist stronghold of Fallujah.

"Despite coordination with the Iraqi security forces on the ground, initial reports indicate the possibility one of the strikes resulted in the death of Iraqi soldiers," the US military said in a statement, adding that it would launch an investigation.

"The coalition offers condolences on the unfortunate loss of life of brave Iraq security forces on the front lines in the fight against Daesh today," it added, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.

All coalition air strikes on the IS extremists are conducted with the approval of the Iraqi government, the US military said.

"To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previous incidents of friendly fire in Iraq involving the coalition during the course of Operation Inherent Resolve," it added.