This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-islamist-militants-warn-battle-will-rage-after-seizing-mosul-and-tikrit-9530899.html

The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 6 Version 7
Iraq crisis: Parliament unable to declare state of emergency after two few MPs turn up to vote Iraq crisis: Hundreds answer PM's call to fight as Islamist militants advance towards Baghdad
(35 minutes later)
Iraqi Kurdish forces have taken control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk, after the army fled from an attack by Islamist militants nearby. Trucks carrying volunteers in Iraq have been heading towards the front lines to defend the capital, after Islamist militants overran two cities and warned a battle will rage as it marched onto Baghdad.
Iraq's parliament has postponed an emergency session to vote on declaring a state of emergency later today following Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's request. Hundreds of young men crowded in front of the main army recruiting centre in Baghdad on Thursday after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle the insurgents.
Lawmakers tried to hold a session to approve the measure Thursday, but too few showed up and they were unable to reach quorum to vote, Reuters has reported. Insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) have seized control of Mosul and Tikrit in less than 48-hours, but government forces have managed to stall their advances near Samarra, a city just 110km (68 miles) north of Baghdad.
Peshmerga fighters, the security forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish north, stormed into bases in Kirkuk vacated by the army, a peshmerga spokesman said. In Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, Sunni militants staged a parade of American Humvees seized from the collapsing Iraqi army, just a day after 500,000 people were forced to flee the area.
"The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," Jabbar Yawar told Reuters. "No Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now." Two helicopters, also seized by the militants, flew overhead, witnesses said, apparently the first time the militant group has obtained aircraft in years of waging insurgency on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier.
Earlier, the Islamist militants who overran cities in Iraq warned battle will “rage” as it planned to march on the capital Baghdad, just a day after 500,000 people were forced to flee their homes in Mosul, the country's second biggest city. State television showed what it said was aerial footage of Iraqi aircraft firing missiles at insurgent targets in Mosul. The targets could be seen exploding in black clouds.
Britain has deployed a humanitarian team in Iraq to assess the needs of civilians fleeing the violent takeover, the International Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced today.  
Fighters from the al-Qa'ida splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) seized Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Wednesday, as soldiers and security forces abandoned their posts and yielded ground once controlled by US forces. Further south, the fighters extended their advance to towns only about an hour's drive from Baghdad, where Shia militia are mobilising in order to protect their country and fight back.
"The battle is not yet raging but it will," Mohammed al Adnani, the spokesperson for Isis was quoted as saying in a statement translated by intelligence officials, according to the US-based monitoring group SITE. The army of the Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government in Baghdad has essentially evaporated in the face of the onslaught, and abandoned their uniforms and weapons to flee on foot.
He also threatened that Isis fighters will take the southern cities of Karbala and Najaf. Mohammed al Adnani, the spokesperson for Isis, warned "the battle is not yet raging but it will," in a statement posted online. “It will rage in Baghdad and Karbala. So be ready for it. Put on your belts and get ready.”
The US has said it is “deeply concerned” about the continued aggression and is considering providing further assistance to Iraq in fighting the militants, but did not give further details on what this would entail. Today, Peshmerga fighters, the security forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish north, stormed into bases in Kirkuk abandoned by government troops, a peshmerga spokesman said.
The militants gained entry to the Turkish consulate in Mosul and held 48 people captive, including diplomats, police, consulate employees and three children, according to an official in the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish officials believe the hostages are safe, he said on Wednesday. "The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," Jabbar Yawar told Reuters. "No Iraqi army remains in Kirkuk now."
Militants also attacked an Iraqi security checkpoint on Thursday in the town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Baghdad, killing five troops and wounding nine, officials told the Associated Press.
Lawmakers tried to hold a session to vote on declaring a state of emergency on Thursday, following a request by the PM, but too few showed up and they were unable to reach quorum to vote.
Britain has deployed a humanitarian team in Iraq to assess the needs of civilians fleeing the violent takeover. The US has said it is “deeply concerned” about the continued aggression and is considering providing further assistance to Iraq in fighting the militants, but did not give further details on what this would entail.
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, offered his country's support to Iraq in its "fight against terrorism" during a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Iranian state TV reported.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday blasted the Islamic State as "barbaric" and said that his country's highest security body will hold an immediate meeting to review the developments in neighbouring Iraq.
It came as the UN Security Council said it deplored the attacks of Tikrit and Mosul "in the strongest terms" and demanded the immediate return of all hostages abducted from the Turkish consulate.It came as the UN Security Council said it deplored the attacks of Tikrit and Mosul "in the strongest terms" and demanded the immediate return of all hostages abducted from the Turkish consulate.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the council's condemnation, saying that "terrorism must not be allowed to succeed in undoing the path towards democracy in Iraq as determined by the will of the Iraqi people."The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the council's condemnation, saying that "terrorism must not be allowed to succeed in undoing the path towards democracy in Iraq as determined by the will of the Iraqi people."
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the loss of Mosul must bring the country's leaders together to deal with the "serious, mortal threat" facing Iraq.
"We can push back on the terrorists ... and there would be a closer cooperation between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government to work together and try to flush out these foreign fighters," he said on the sidelines of a diplomatic meeting in Athens."