Children fleeing the jihadist-held Hawijah area in north Iraq are dying of thirst and being killed by makeshift bombs, Save the Children said on Thursday.

Hawijah, a town in Iraq's Kirkuk province, has been held by the Islamic State group since 2014, and jihadists who have fled defeats in other areas are believed to have gathered there.

"In recent days scores of young children have run out of water and died along perilous mountain paths, or have been killed after stepping on the improvised landmines," the Britain-based Save the Children charity said.

"One family of five, now reduced to three, said they lost two children to hidden explosives. They were unable to retrieve the bodies for fear of further landmines in the area," it said in a statement.

Iraqi forces are preparing for an operation to retake the city of Mosul, the capital of neighbouring Nineveh province, and a push to recapture Hawijah could occur simultaneously.

The Mosul offensive may spark a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations saying that up to a million people could be displaced by the fighting.

Iraq summons Turkish ambassador to protest troop presence
Baghdad (AFP) Oct 13, 2016 - The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Thursday to protest the continued presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq without Baghdad's permission, a ministry spokesman said.

Turkish troops are deployed in the Bashiqa area near the jihadist-held city of Mosul, and Turkey's prime minister has said that they will stay despite Baghdad's demands that they be withdrawn.

The Turkish ambassador was given a "a strongly worded formal note of protest" regarding "the continued presence of Turkish forces near Bashiqa and recent abusive statements from their leadership," spokesman Ahmed Jamal told AFP.

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "know your place," and said that he is "not on my level."

And Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that the country's forces would stay "no matter what the Iraqi government in Baghdad says."

Abadi has repeatedly demanded that the Turkish troops be withdrawn and said that they will not take part in the impending operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State jihadist group.

The US State Department issued a statement earlier this week that implicitly backed Iraq's position, saying that: "We believe all international forces in Iraq should be there with the approval of and in coordination with the government of Iraq."

Iraqi forces are preparing for the operation to retake Mosul from IS, which is expected to be the toughest and most complex battle of the country's more than two-year war against the jihadists.

More than 7,000 military personnel from a US-led coalition are deployed in Iraq to support Baghdad's forces, but the coalition has repeatedly stated that the Turkish deployment is not part of its operations.