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Sunni Militants Seize Control in Iraqi City of Mosul Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul
(about 2 hours later)
BAGHDAD — Sunni militants on Tuesday seized control of military bases and the provincial governor’s building in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, as police officers and army soldiers abandoned the town and left weapons, vehicles and even their uniforms to the gunmen. BAGHDAD — Iraqi army soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, as Sunni militants seized military bases, police stations and the provincial governor’s headquarters. The rout in Mosul, the second largest Iraqi city after Baghdad and an important oil center, was a major defeat for the government’s forces.
By midday, the militants, believed to belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an extremist group, were in control of much of central and southern Mosul, according to witnesses and local officials. Soldiers who fled the city said the militants had seized a jail, freeing the inmates. By midday, militants believed to belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an extremist group, 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 neighboring Syria.
“They took control of everything, and they are everywhere,” said one soldier who fled the city, giving only his first name, Haidar. As hundreds of families fled Mosul, the bodies of slain soldiers, police officers and civilians were seen lying in streets. “They took control of everything, and they are everywhere,” said one soldier who fled the city, and gave only his first name, Haidar.
As a civilian exodus from the city intensified, the attack amounted to a stunning defeat for government forces, which have spent the past six days trying to beat back a surging militant offensive concentrated in central and northern Iraq. In Mosul, along with the cities of Samarra and Ramadi, the militants have struck at will, storming police stations, government offices and even a university. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal el-Maliki, asked the Iraqi Parliament to declare a state of emergency throughout the country, reflecting the scale of the crisis facing his government. His forces have spent the past six days trying to beat back a surging militant offensive concentrated in central and northern Iraq, carried out by hundreds of well-armed fighters roaming the country in pickup trucks, seemingly able to strike at will.
On Saturday, car bombs killed scores of people across the capital, Baghdad, in one of the deadliest coordinated assaults in weeks. In Mosul, along with the cities of Samarra and Ramadi, the militants have stormed police stations, government offices and even a university. On Saturday, car bombs killed scores of people across the capital, Baghdad, in one of the deadliest coordinated attacks in weeks.
Security officials have framed the attacks as an attempt by militants to distract the army from its ongoing battle in the western province of Anbar, where militants have managed to hold territory, including the city of Falluja and parts of neighboring Ramadi, for six months. Security officials have framed the attacks as an attempt by militants to distract the army from its ongoing battle in the western province of Anbar, where militants have managed to hold territory, including the city of Falluja and parts of neighboring Ramadi, for six months. With the fighting on Tuesday, the government faced the possibility of losing another major Iraqi city to extremists whose stated goals include establishing an Islamic state.
The government appeared to face a deep challenge in regaining control of Mosul, a stronghold for extremist groups linked to Al Qaeda and a hub of financing for militants, who run extortion and kidnapping rings to finance their operations in Iraq and Syria. And with their soldiers on the run, the government appeared to face a deep challenge in regaining control of Mosul, a stronghold for extremist groups linked to Al Qaeda and a hub of financing for militants, who ran extortion and kidnapping rings to finance their operations in Iraq and Syria.
The fighting in Mosul intensified early Tuesday, when the militants stormed the offices of the provincial governor. Later on Tuesday, the bodies of dead soldiers, police officers and civilians could be seen lying in the streets of the city, along with dozens of burned army and police vehicles, witnesses said. The militants, patrolling the city in pickup trucks and flying the black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, tried to calm civilians by saying that they did not intend to fight the city’s residents. But hundreds of families fled. The army responded to the rout on Tuesday by bombing at least one military base that had been captured by the militants, but there was no immediate sign of a broader offensive to reclaim the city.
Zuhair al-Aaraji, a member of the Iraqi Parliament from Mosul, said that government security forces had fled from some places without firing a shot. “They left their weapons and their equipment and ran away,” he said. “All these weapons are under the control of the militants now.” The fighting in Mosul intensified early Tuesday, when the militants stormed the offices of the provincial governor. Later on Tuesday, dozens of army and police vehicles were burning in the streets, witnesses said. The militants, patrolling the city in pickup trucks and flying the black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, tried to calm civilians by saying they did not intend to fight the city’s residents. But that did nothing to stem a mass exodus from the city.
Iraqi officials said the attack provided further evidence of contagion from the war in neighboring Syria. The Iraqi Parliament speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, called the fighting a “foreign invasion of Iraq, carried out by terrorist groups from different countries.”
As fears mounted that the militant offensive would broaden to other Iraqi provinces, there was condemnation of the army, whose commanders and soldiers had abandoned their posts in the city.
“The prison was left to the hands of criminals, and opened,” Mr. Nujaifi said in a televised address, referring to reports that inmates were running free on the streets of Mosul. The army even abandoned the airport, he said. “What happened was a disaster, based on all measures,” he said.
Zuhair al-Aaraji, a member of Parliament from Mosul, said that government security forces fled from some places without firing a shot. “They left their weapons and their equipment and ran away,” he said. “All these weapons are under the control of the militants now.