Militants overrun parts of key Iraqi city of Mosul

BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic militants overran parts of Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul on Tuesday, driving security forces from their posts and seizing the provincial government headquarters, security bases and other key buildings. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pressed parliament to declare a state of emergency.

The fight for Mosul was a heavy defeat in Baghdad's battle against a widening insurgency by a breakaway al-Qaida group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has been trying — with some success — to seize territory both in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Earlier this year, the group captured another Iraqi city, Fallujah, in the west of the country, and government forces have been unable to take it back after months of fighting. The far larger Mosul is an even more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.

Regaining Mosul poses a daunting challenge for al-Maliki. The city has a Sunni Muslim majority and many in the community are already deeply embittered against his Shiite-led government. During the nearly nine-year American presence in the country, Mosul was a major stronghold for al-Qaida and U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out repeated offensives there, regaining a semblance of control but never routing the insurgents entirely.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/iraq-militants-seize-provincial-hq-mosul-city

Iraq's prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency, after militants took control of the northern city of Mosul.

Overnight, hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and machine-guns seized the provincial government's offices.

They also destroyed several police stations before overrunning the airport and army's operations headquarters.

Meanwhile, a double bomb attack in Baquba has killed at least 20 people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27778112

Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul

BAGHDAD — Iraqi army soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, as Sunni militants freed hundreds of prisoners and seized military bases, police stations, banks and the provincial governor’s headquarters. The insurgent attacks were among the most audacious assaults on the Iraqi government since the American military withdrawal more than two years ago.

The rout in Mosul, the second-largest Iraqi city after Baghdad and an important center of the country’s petroleum industry, was breathtaking in its speed, and appeared to take government officials by surprise, not to mention residents of the city itself. A major humiliation for the government forces in Iraq’s Sunni-dominated areas, the defeat also reflected the stamina of a broader Sunni insurgency that has been growing in neighboring Syria.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki ordered a state of emergency for the entire country. His Shiite-led government has been increasingly struggling to deal with the resurrection of Sunni militancy in Iraq since the American military departure at the end of 2011.

By midday on Tuesday, militants believed to belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, one of the strongest extremist groups, were in control of much of central and southern Mosul, according to witnesses. Local officials claimed that many of the fighters were jihadists who had swept in from the porous border with Syria.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/world/middleeast/militants-in-mosul.html?_r=0