Iraq in crisis as jihadist group ISIL takes control of the country’s second largest city

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/10/iraq-in-crisis-as-jihadist-group-isil-takes-control-of-the-countrys-second-largest-city/



Iraq in crisis as jihadist group ISIL takes control of the country’s second largest city
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 11:46 EDT

Jihadists seized Iraq’s second city of Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh province on Tuesday, in a major blow to a government apparently incapable of stopping militant advances.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki responded by asking parliament to declare a state of emergency and announcing the government would arm citizens to fight the militants.

“All of Nineveh province fell into the hands of militants,” parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi told journalists in Baghdad, adding the gunmen were heading south towards neighbouring Salaheddin province.

An army brigadier general told AFP hundreds of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched a major assault on the security forces late on Monday.