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Iraq crisis: ISIS battles for Baghdad - live
Group claims mass killings of Iraqi troops, as militants battle security forces 50 miles from Baghdad - follow latest developments
14
June, 2014
22.55 The
secretary general of the Kurdish security forces is now saying
however that only two people had died near the town of Jalawla in
what he described as shelling. Police maintain they carried out an
airstrike in the area.
22.10 The
latest report coming out of Iraq is that an air strike from the Iraqi
air force has killed seven Kurdish security personnel in the Diyala
province.The attack reportedly took place near the town of Jalawla in
the east of the country. More when we have it.
20.43 AFP
are also reporting that the ISIS insurgency in Iraq could force Iran
and the US to work together. Their take on the unlikely partnership
is here:
Shiite
Iran offered Saturday to consider working with long-time foe
Washington if it takes the lead in helping repel Sunni Arab militants
who have seized a swathe of northern Iraq.
The
offer came as Iraqi commanders said soldiers had recaptured two towns
north of Baghdad, thousands of volunteers answered a call to arms
from top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and a US
carrier group steamed into Gulf waters.
Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the besieged city of Samarra north of
the capital Friday to rally troops and pray at the Al-Askari Shiite
shrine, a revered site whose 2006 bombing by Al-Qaeda sparked a
sectarian conflict that killed tens of thousands.
President
Barack Obama said he was "looking at all the options" to
halt the offensive that has brought jihadist-led militants within 50
miles (80 kilometres) of Baghdad's city limits, but ruled out any
return of US combat troops.
"We
will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have
asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options
that could help support Iraqi security forces," he said.
19.59 Eight
guards protecting a leading figure in Iraq's Shiite community have
been killed in an attack on his convoy, AFP are reporting. Here are
their words:
Gunmen
attacked the convoy of the deputy head of Iraq's Shiite religious
endowment on Saturday, killing eight of his guards, the senior cleric
said.
Sheikh
Sami al-Massudi said his convoy was ambushed near Ishaqi, a town
north of Baghdad that was retaken from militants on Saturday,
sparking hours-long clashes in which 10 guards were also wounded.
The
endowment is a major organisation that manages Shiite religious sites
in Iraq.
"We
were on our way to Samarra, but we were surprised by a fierce battle
near Ishaqi," Massudi said.
Gunmen
were hiding in farmland next to the road, and opened fire on the
convoy with machineguns and sniper rifles, he said, adding that the
fighting lasted from Saturday morning into the afternoon.
"I
cannot say if I was the target," Massudi said.
Ishaqi
was one of two towns retaken by security forces on Saturday from
Sunni militants who have seized a swathe of territory in a major
offensive.
The
militant attack, spearheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant group but also involving supporters of executed dictator
Saddam Hussein, was launched on Monday night.
Security
forces performed poorly when the onslaught was unleashed, but they
now appear to be recovering from the initial shock and have begun to
regain ground.
Here is the USS H W Bush sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea on 27 February 2014
18.00 US sends Nuclear-powered aircraft to Gulf
Chuck Hagel, the defence secretary, said that he had ordered an aircraft carrier and its accompanying battle group into the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers airstrikes. The USS George HW Bush and her more than 50 attack aircraft were available to conduct strikes against Islamic militants if ordered, officials said earlier.
There were unconfirmed reports that the carrier – named after the first president Bush who launched the 1991 Gulf war to free Kuwait – had already headed towards the the Gulf on Friday. The 1092-foot, nuclear-powered carrier deployed from her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, in February on a regular rotation to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf region. The vessel is being accompanied from the North Arabian Sea by guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun. The ships will be in their new positions by later on Saturday.
"The order will provide the commander-in-chief additional flexibility should military options be required to protect American lives, citizens and interests in Iraq," the Pentagon said in a statement.
17.15
Upcoming
dispatch from our correspondent Ruth Sherlock with Carol Malouf in
Khazil will be on line soon. Here is the intro:
Quote
An
elderly man is ripped from his bed in the dead of night. Blindfolded,
the last thing he feels is the blade slitting his throat. A taxi
driver, made to kneel on the side of the road, trembling as a gun is
put to his head and the trigger is pulled. In one summary execution,
the bodies of five men are shown convulsing under the force of the
bullets being fired into their backs.
The
men of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the jihadists now
rampaging across northern Iraq and Syria are proud of their murders.
The real footage, posted online as propaganda videos for the group,
reveals the cruel psychopathy of men whose humanity has been lost to
their extremist cause.
17.12
Diplomats
and soldiers trapped inside Turkey's consulate in the northern Iraqi
city of Mosul had no option but to surrender this week after hundreds
of heavily armed Islamist militants surrounded the building, the
foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The
seizure by insurgents from ISIS on Wednesday of 49 Turks, including
special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, has prompted
criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government for failing
to foresee the danger and evacuate the consulate sooner.
The
ISIS offensive threatens to dismember Iraq and leaves Turkey facing a
widening Islamist insurgency in two of its southern neighbours, with
ISIS also making territorial gains in Syria near the Turkish border.
Turkish
Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru said every security precaution had
been taken at the consulate but that events unfolded quickly and that
Iraqi security forces stationed around the building abandoned their
posts as ISIL seized Mosul.
"We
gave an order (on Tuesday) to evacuate but our consul general told us
that they were safer inside the consulate. He said it was not
possible to evacuate under the circumstances," Koru told
reporters in Ankara.
Hundreds
of insurgents surrounded the building the next day, he said, at which
point the consul general called Ankara again.
"The
militants were asking them to surrender in 10 minutes and said
otherwise they would come in. We contacted our prime minister and
foreign minister immediately and the decision (to surrender) was
made," Koru said.
Some
Turkish commentators have suggested the events could jeopardise
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's chances of replacing Erdogan as
prime minister. Davutoglu is seen as a potential candidate for the
job if, as expected, Erdogan decides to run for Turkey's presidency
in an August election.
17.05
The nutters have arrived. They come on horses armed with machine guns.
We can't verify the video but it was uploaded yesterday and we have been told it is from northern Iraq.
16.55
15.56
Here's a photograph from today of traffic from Mosul at a Kurdish check point in Kalak. Our reporter on the ground there Ruth Sherlock says the traffic is already going the other way too as residents return after the threat of US air strikes fades.
DAN KITWOOD/GETTY
DAN KITWOOD/GETTY
President Rouhani reassured Iranians that their young men would not be sent to Iraq - not yet, anyway. It is clear that his government is far from keen on putting boots on the ground in Iraq.
Qassem Suleimani (Seyed Shahaboddin Vajedi)
Volunteers from the Iraqi town of Jdaideh in the Dlyala province joined the fight against ISIS (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP)
The Shia leader arrives from Iran to mobilise his Sadrists against the ISIS threat from the north.
Families arrive at a checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp on in Kalak, Iraq (DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES)
Iraqi Shiite tribal fighters deploy with their weapons while chanting slogans in Sadr City, Iraq (KARIM KADIM/AP)
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