Turkey has provided weapons to Iraqi Kurdish forces fighting against the Islamist State (IS) militants, Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Chief of Staff Fuad Hussein said.

In an interview with Turkey's Daily Hurriyet published on Tuesday, Hussein said that along with training Iraqi Kurdish fighters of autonomous administration in northern Iraq, Turkey has also sent weapons to the Kurdish fighters.

Those were not heavy weapons, said Hussein, adding Iraqi Kurds' expectation for heavy weapons as well.

The Iraqi Kurdish Chief of Staff also said it was Turkey that suggested the Iraqi Kurdish fighters should join defense of the Kurdish-populated Syrian city of Ayn al-Arab, also know as Kobane, against the jihadist group.

Turkish army has trained 230 Iraqi Kurdish fighters so far in northern Iraq.

Some 150 Iraqi Kurdish fighters, sent by the Kurdish regional government in Iraq, crossed into Syria through Turkish border in September to help their Syrian Kurds brethren in their fight against the IS militants.

XNA