Iraq

"Al-Qaeda offshoot" takes control of Iraqi town

MOSUL -- According to some reports, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have fled the Iraqi town of Mosul after ISIS fighters took control of it.

The group is said to be made up of Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qaeda.

Bulgaria will open trade missions in 20 countries by end-2014, according to a media statement of the government.

The new trade representations are to be opened in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, northern Iraq (Erbil), Algiers, Tunisia, Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, US (Chicago), Hungary and Cyprus.

The number of Turkish truck drivers taken hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northern Iraq has risen from 28 to 32 on June 11.

A day after Iranian President Hasan Rouhani called on Turkey to jointly fight against regional extremist terrorism for the stability of both countries and of the Middle East region, jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, including Mosul, and were heading toward the province of Salahaddin, on the road to Baghdad.   

The reports on June 10 were indicating Mosul, the second largest city of Iraq, near the Turkish and Syrian border is falling into the hands of the militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).

Iraqi police and army forces abandoned their posts in the city of Mosul after militants overran the provincial government headquarters and other key buildings, report ABC News.

The information was confirmed by provincial officials and residents. 

Iraq's prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency after Islamist militants effectively took control of Mosul, the country's second-largest city, and much of its province of Nineveh June 9, in another blow to the authorities, who appear incapable of stopping rebel advances.

Militants seized Iraq's second-largest city June 9, officials said, in another blow to the authorities, who appear incapable of stopping rebel advances.

Overnight, hundreds of gunmen launched an assault on Mosul, 350 kilometres north of Baghdad, engaging in combat with troops and police, they said.

A car bomb followed by a suicide bombing hit offices of a Kurdish political party and security forces in Iraq on June 8, killing 17 people, police and doctors said.

The blasts in the town of Jalawla, north of Baghdad, also wounded 50 people, the sources said.

A car bomb explosion followed by a suicide bomb attack targeting the offices of a Kurdish political party and security forces killed 10 people in Iraq on June 7, police said.

The blasts in the town of Jalawla, north of Baghdad, also wounded 40 people, a senior police official said.