Turkish consul general in Mosul escapes assassination attempt

Turkey's consul general in Mosul escaped an assassination attempt on Monday when his convoy was attacked between the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Arbil causing no casualties, security sources said. The blast, which struck in Mosul, damaged all four vehicles in the convoy as it was en route to the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil. It was not immediately clear if the consul was explicitly targeted. He was rushed to Nineveh hospital for treatment. Violence has spiked sharply in recent months in Iraq, and Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province in particular remains one of the country's most dangerous areas, regularly suffering deadly gun and bomb attacks. Ties between Iraq and Turkey have worsened considerably in recent years, and the blast against the consul is not the first suffered by Turkey's diplomatic mission to the country.