Maleki Places Army on Alert after ISIL’s Terrorists Seized Several Iraqi Areas

CAPITALS- Terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) extremist organization have seized the Iraqi town of Baiji in the north of the Salah al-Din province (located around 200km to the north-west of Baghdad).

 Iraq’s Interior Ministry said the extremists had destroyed several government buildings and surrounded a local oil refinery according to Itar Tass

The police said the gunmen put on fire the Interior Ministry’s facilities and the city court and seized army weapons caches. Security forces continue to defend the refinery. Security services say the extremists are gradually approaching oil-rich Iraqi Kurdistan.

Heavy fighting is underway in the regions where the terrorists have established their control, and Iraqi law enforcers continue to resist the ISIL forces and plan a counter-attack.

Iraqi prime minister places army on alert

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has placed the country’s army and security services in full combat readiness. He has also announced a universal mobilization and urged the parliament to introduce emergency rule.

The prime minister announced his decisions at an extraordinary news conference in Baghdad summoned in view of the seizure of Nineveh Province with the administrative center in Mosul by the gunmen from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

At present, the radicals continue attacking and gaining control over new areas, posing a threat to the province of Salah al-Din (the administrative center is the city of Tikrit).

ISIL Control Several Areas in Iraq’s Kirkuk Province

Earlier, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) seized several areas in Iraq’s Kirkuk and Salaheddin provinces on Tuesday, a police officer said, after the gunmen took control of a whole province to its west.

ISIL terrorists overran the Hawijah, Zab, Riyadh and Abbasi areas west of the city of Kirkuk, and Rashad and Yankaja to its south, Colonel Ahmed Taha said.

The terrorists moved into Siniyah and Sulaiman Bek, both located north of Baghdad.

It came after ISIL from the same group seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and the surrounding province of Nineveh earlier on Tuesday.

Nineveh, long a gunmen stronghold and one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq, shares a border with part of western Kirkuk province, which is located north of Baghdad.

International Condemnations

Iran has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, saying the spread of terrorist moves in Iraq is a flagrant example of the “transnational threat” of terrorism.

“Jihadists” who have seized Iraq’s second city of Mosul pose a threat to the entire region, the United States warned Tuesday, voicing deep concern about the “serious situation.”

“It should be clear that ISIL is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq, but a threat to the entire region,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

AFP reported on Tuesday that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed grave concern about the “jihadists” takeover of Iraq’s second city of Mosul, calling on political leaders to unite in the face of threats.

Agencies

H.M