SERBUAN Radikal: tentera IRAQ, ORANG AWAM lari sepertimana militan MENGAWAL BANDAR-bandar . . .

Srikandi גבורה -  Pasukan keselamatan kerajaan meninggalkan post mereka dan dilihat berundur dari bandar Iraq daripada Kikkuk pada hari Rabu sebagaimana radikal militan Islam dikaitkan dengan Al-Qaeda menolak jauh ke dlm kawasan tengah Sunni Iraq. Juga estimad satu setengah juta penduduk telah melarikan diri bandar yang ke-2 terbesar Iraq, Mosul, selepas militan mengambil mengawal sehari.

Radical Raid: IRAQi troops, Civilians flee as MILITANTs take CONTROL Of CITIES . . .

Government security forces abandoned their posts and were seen retreating from the Iraq city of Kikkuk on Wednesday as radical Islamist militants linked to Al-Qaeda pushed deeper into Iraq’s Sunni heartland. Also an estimad half a million residents have fled Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, after militants took control a day.

ISLAM melepaskan SEMUA keluar SERANGAN ke atas BANDAR-bandar IRAQ dengan SENJATA Amerika Syarikat . . .

Srikandi גבורה - Di Iraq, militan Islam radikal dikaitkan al-Qaeda dilaporkan meran-cang untuk mengambil Baghdad, selepas berjaya mara di utara. Ia fikir kerajaan kini meminta Amerika Syarikat utk menjalankan serangan Drone menentang pemberontak. 

Marina Portnaya menerangkan bagaimana ini mungkin bermaksud Washington meli-batkan menentang perkakasan tentera sendiri.

Islamists unleash all-out Assault On IRAQi Cities 

with US WEAPONs . . .

In Iraq, radical Islamist militants linked al-Qaeda are reportedly planning to take Baghdad, after succesfully advancing in the north. It’s thought the government’s now asked the US to carry out drone strikes againts insurgents. Marina Portnaya explains how that might mean Washington engaging againt its own military hardware.

Militan MEREBUT Konsulat TURKI, mengambil TEBUSAN 

80 Orang Turki di bandar IRAQ Mosul . . .

Merebut imej yang diambil dari video propaganda dimuat naik di Jun 11, 2014 oleh kumpulan jihad Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) didakwa menunjukkan militan ISIL memandu pada lokasi yang tidak didedahkan di wilayah Nineveh Iraq(An image grab taken from a propaganda video uploaded on June 11, 2014 by jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly shows ISIL militants driving at an undisclosed location in Iraq's Nineveh province (AFP Photo,HO,ISIL)

Pemberontak jihad menculik 49 orang di konsulat Turki di bandar Iraq utara Mosul dan 31 pemandu lori Turki dalam serangan berasingan, berkata Ankara. Al-Qaeda cabang ISIS telah mara di bandar-bandar di utara Baghdad.

Militan Negeri Islam di Iraq dan Levant (ISIS/ISIL) telah menangkap 49 warga Turki di konsulat Mosul, Kementerian Luar Turki mengumumkan pada hari Rabu. Sebanyak 31 pemandu Turki juga telah diambil tebusan oleh militan dalam kejadian berasingan dan diadakan di stesen kuasa di Mosul, tambah kementerian itu.

Konsul Besar Turki di Mosul, Ozturk Yilmaz, beberapa ahli-ahli pasukan khas Turki dan 3 kanak-kanak adalah antara yang dijadikan tebusan oleh militan ISIS, Reuters melaporkan memetik sumber-sumber di pejabat Perdana Menteri Turki.

Perdana Menteri Turki Tayyip Erdogan telah dipanggil mesyuarat tergempar NATO untuk membincangkan keadaan keselamatan di Iraq. Duta negara-negara anggota NATO bermesyuarat di Brussels. Walau bagaimanapun, tiada pengumuman serta-merta dibuat berikutan mesyuarat itu.

Erdogan sebelum ini mengadakan mesyuarat tergempar dengan Presiden Turki Abdullah Gul, ketua perisikan Turki dan ketua staf umum, dan berbual-bual dengan Naib Presiden Joe Bide.

Militants seize Turkish consulate, take 80 Turks hostage 

in Iraqi city of Mosul . . .

Jihadist insurgents have kidnapped 49 people in the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and 31 Turkish truck drivers in separate attacks, Ankara said. Al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS has been advancing on the cities north of Baghdad.

Militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) have captured 49 Turkish citizens at the Mosul consulate, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday. As many as 31 Turkish drivers have also been taken hostage by the militants in separate incidents and are being held at a power station in Mosul, the ministry added.

The Turkish Consul-General in Mosul, Ozturk Yilmaz, several members of Turkey’s special forces and three children were among those taken hostage by the ISIS militants, Reuters reported citing sources in the Turkish prime minister’s office.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has summoned an emergency meeting of NATO to discuss the security situation in Iraq. Ambassadors of the NATO member states met in Brussels. However, no announcements were immediately made following the meeting.

Erdogan earlier held an emergency meeting with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Turkish intelligence chief and the chief of general staff, and talked with US Vice President Joe Bide.

Menurut media Turki, yang menangkap tlh memegang diplomat di ibu pejabat militan dan tanpa kecederaan.

Akaun Islam Twitter, @ Dawla_NewsMedia, yang telah tweeting gambar dan pro-ISIS laporan dari tempat kejadian itu, mendakwa bahawa diplomat Turki telah dipindahkan "ke lokasi yang tidak diketahui." Akaun ini telah pun disekat oleh Twitter.

According to Turkish media, the captors have been holding diplomats in militant headquarters and unharmed.

An Islamist Twitter account, @Dawla_NewsMedia, which has been tweeting photos and pro-ISIS reports from the scene, claimed that the Turkish diplomats have been moved “to an unknown location.” The account has since been blocked by Twitter.

Merebut imej yang diambil dari video propaganda dimuat naik di Jun 11, 2014 oleh kumpulan jihad Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) didakwa menunjukkan militan ISIL memandu pada lokasi yang tidak didedahkan di wilayah Nineveh Iraq(An image grab taken from a propaganda video uploaded on June 11, 2014 by jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly shows ISIL militants driving at an undisclosed location in Iraq's Nineveh province (AFP Photo,HO,ISIL)

Menteri Luar Turki Ahmet Davutoglu dilaporkan lawatannya dipendekkan ke Amerika Syarikat dan terbang kembali ke Ankara berkaitan dengan tebusan Mosul. Davutoglu adalah disebabkan untuk menyampaikan ucapan di PBB mesyuarat anti-keganasan di New York.

Sementara itu, Kementerian Luar Turki berkata ia mengesahkan maklumat yang di tengah-tengah laporan yang bercanggah.

Militan Sunni radikal telah mengambil tebusan sekurang-kurangnya 32 warga Turki - pemandu lori - di kawasan itu sejak Selasa, mengikut Hurriyet.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reportedly cut short his visit to the US and flew back to Ankara in connection with the Mosul hostage-taking. Davutoglu was due to deliver a speech at a UN counter-terrorism meeting in New York.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry meanwhile said it was verifying the information amid conflicting reports.

The radical Sunni militants have already taken hostage at least 32 Turkish nationals – truck drivers – in the area since Tuesday, according to Hurriyet.

Sementara itu, sumber-sumber Reuters mencadangkan Ankara tlh "sentuhan langsung" dengan militan ke atas keadaan.

"Kumpulan tertentu militan di Mosul tlh secara langsung dihubungi untuk memastikan keselamatan kakitangan diplomatik," satu sumber kerajaan Turki memberitahu agensi.

Kerajaan Turki telah sebelum ini telah dituduh membantu kumpulan jihad berjuang di Syria terhadap kerajaan Presiden Syria Bashar Assad. Damsyik mengadu kepada PBB pada bulan Mac bahawa Turki telah menyediakan perlindungan kepada pemberontak menyeberangi sempadan dari wilayah Turki, yang kononnya termasuk beberapa sekutu Al-Qaeda.

Militan ISIS merebak berjuang utk bandar2 utara yang lain

Sesetengah 225km (140 batu) selatan Mosul, militan ISIS telah merampas kota Tikrit, pegawai keselamatan Iraq memberitahu AP yang tidak mahu dikenali. Menurut laporan itu, gabenor wilayah telah hilang dari bandar.

Tikrit, hanya 150 kilometer (95 batu) barat laut Baghdad, adalah tempat asal Presiden Saddam Hussein yang digulingkan dalam operasi ketenteraan yang diketuai.

AFP memetik polis Tikrit sebagai berkata bahawa militan mengawal bandar membe-baskan beberapa 300 banduan di sana.

"Semua Tikrit adalah di tangan militan," seorang kolonel polis Iraq kepada AFP.

Sementara itu di bandar Samarra, yang terletak jauh ke selatan daripada Tikrit di tebing timur Sungai Tigris, pertempuran dilaporkan meletus antara tentera Iraq dan militan tiba di trak dengan mesingan, menurut AFP. Samarra, sebuah Tapak Warisan Dunia UNESCO, adalah rumah kepada beberapa tempat suci untuk umat Islam Syiah.

Satu sumber tentera memberitahu Al Arabiya saluran berita bahawa angkatan Kurdish dilaporkan berjuang militan ISIS di Kirkuk untuk menghentikan serangan mereka.

Terdahulu, ISIS dgn bangganya penawanan penapisan minyak terbesar Iraq utara bandar Baiji, dengan mendakwa ia telah "merampas tanpa pukulan." Kilang minyak, yang terletak kurang daripada 180km (110 batu) dari Mosul adalah salah satu objek yang strategik terjamin oleh tentera yang diketuai dalam serangan Iraq 2003 dan teliti mencari "senjata pemusnah besar-besaran." Tiada bahan kimia yang pernah ditemui di sana.

Laporan dari tempat kejadian mencadangkan bahawa militan ISIS bersetuju untuk meninggalkan pemasangan bandar dan tenaga Baiji selepas rundingan dgn pemimpin-pemimpin puak tempatan. Militan didakwa meninggalkan untuk kampung-kampung berdekatan selepas membakar bangunan mahkamah dan polis stesen di bandar ini dan membebaskan tahanan.

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Meanwhile, Reuters sources suggested Ankara has been in “direct contact” with the militants over the situation.

“Certain militant groups in Mosul have been directly contacted to ensure the safety of diplomatic staff,” a Turkish government source told the agency.

The Turkish government has earlier been accused of assisting jihadist groups fighting in Syria against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government. Damascus complained to the UN in March that Turkey was providing cover to rebels crossing the border from Turkish territory, which allegedly included several Al-Qaeda affiliates.

ISIS militants spread fighting to other northern cities

Some 225km (140 miles) south of Mosul, the ISIS militants have seized the city of Tikrit, Iraqi security officials told AP on condition of anonymity. According to the report, the provincial governor has gone missing from the city.

Tikrit, just 150 kilometers (95 miles) northwest of Baghdad, was the hometown of President Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown in the US-led military operation.

AFP quoted Tikrit police as saying that the militants controlling the city freed some 300 prisoners there.

“All of Tikrit is in the hands of the militants,” an Iraqi police colonel told AFP.

Meanwhile in the city of Samarra, located further south of Tikrit on the east bank of the Tigris River, clashes reportedly broke out between Iraqi forces and militants arriving in trucks with machine guns, according to AFP. Samarra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to several holy sites for Shia Muslims.

A military source told Al Arabiya news channel that Kurdish forces are reportedly fighting ISIS militants in Kirkuk to stop their offensive.

Earlier, ISIS boasted the capture of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery north of the city of Baiji, claiming it had “seized it without a shot.” The oil refinery, located less than 180km (110 miles) from Mosul was one of the strategic objects secured by the US-led forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and thoroughly searched for “weapons of mass destruction.” No chemical agents were ever found there.

Reports from the scene suggested that ISIS militants agreed to leave the city and energy installations of Baiji after negotiations with local tribal leaders. The militants allegedly left for nearby villages after torching the city’s courthouse and police stations and freeing prisoners.

Pada malam Isnin, pejuang Al-Qaeda kumpulan serpihan ISIS menyerbu ibu pejabat kerajaan wilayah bersenjatakan bom tangan roket dan mesingan berat.

"Bandar Mosul adalah di luar kawalan kerajaan dan pada rahmat militan," seorang pegawai Kementerian Dalam Negeri kepada AFP pada hari Isnin. Ia kini bandar yang ke-2 jatuh di bawah kawalan pejuang Islam sejak awal tahun ini. Pada bulan Januari militan merampas bandar Fallujah, penyisihan lebih 70,000 orang.

Akaun saksi menggambarkan adegan huru-hara di jalan-raya bandar yg ke-2 terbesar Iraq sebagai beribu-ribu orang melarikan diri untuk kehidupan mereka. Beberapa laporan mengatakan bahawa militan adalah membebaskan tahanan daripada balai polis, manakala Koresponden AL RAI Ketua Antarabangsa Elia J Magnier menulis sebarang tweet bahawa ISIS telah membebaskan lebih 2,000 penghuni dari "penjara kaunter keganasan."

Berikutan merebut Mosul, laporan media tempatan berkata ISIS dirompak beberapa 500 bilion dinar Iraq (kira-kira US $ 429 Juta) daripada bank pusat di bandar ini, mungkin menjadikannya kumpulan pengganas yang paling kaya di DUNIA. Niniwe Gabenor Atheel al-Nujaifi mengesahkan bahawa berjuta-juta telah dicuri dari beberapa bank di Mosul.

Militan juga telah ditangkap bilangannya yang tidak diketahui Iraq helikopter Black Hawk diletakkan di kawasan Mosul, kata laporan.

On Monday night, fighters from Al-Qaeda splinter group ISIS stormed provincial government headquarters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.

“The city of Mosul is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants,” an Interior Ministry official told AFP on Monday. It is now the second city to fall under control of Islamist fighters since the beginning of this year. In January militants seized the city of Fallujah, displacing over 70,000 people.

Eyewitness accounts describe the scenes of chaos on the streets of Iraq’s second-largest city as thousands of people fled for their lives. A number of reports say that militants are freeing detainees from police stations, while AL RAI Chief International Correspondent Elijah J Magnier tweeted that the ISIS had freed over 2,000 inmates from a “counter terrorism prison.”

Following the seize of Mosul, local media reports said that ISIS looted some 500 billion Iraqi dinars (about US$429 million) from the city’s central bank, possibly making it the richest terror group in the world. Nineveh Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi confirmed that millions have been stolen from several banks in Mosul.

The militants have also captured an unknown number of Iraqi Black Hawk helicopters parked in the Mosul area, reports said.

Merebut imej yang diambil dari video propaganda yang dimuat naik pada 8 Jun 2014, oleh kumpulan jihad Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL) didakwa menunjukkan militan ISIL berhampiran bandar Iraq tengah Tikrit. (An image grab taken from a propaganda video uploaded on June 8, 2014, by the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly shows ISIL militants near the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. (AFP Photo,HO,ISIL)

ISIS telah aktif menggunakan media sosial, terutamanya Twitter, untuk menyebarkan berita kemajuan kumpulan itu di Iraq. Salah satu kenyataan Twitter berkata bahawa ISIS ditentukan "untuk menakluk seluruh negeri" Niniwe.

Yang diketuai oleh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, kumpulan militan berjuang utk penciptaan yang besar Timur Tengah khalifah sebelum ini mempunyai hubungan yg kukuh dengan organisasi pengganas antarabangsa Al-Qaeda. Walau bagaimanapun, al-Baghdadi dipercayai telah dipecahkan dengan pemimpin Al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahri, dan sejak itu pejuang ISIS telah dilaporkan bertempur dengan Al-Qaeda di Syria.

Beratus-ratus ribu orang dipercayai telah melarikan diri Mosul dan wilayah Iraq utara Nineveh, yang membimbangkan sebahagian besarnya diambil di bawah kawalan. Pertubuhan Antarabangsa bagi Migrasi (IOM) yang ditempatkan jumlah pelarian di 500,000.

Mereka melarikan diri rantau ini termasuk tentera Iraq lemah semangat, yang huru-hara meninggalkan kedudukan mereka, jatuh pakaian seragam, senjata, senjata dan perkakasan tentera.

ISIS has been actively using social media, particularly Twitter, to spread the news of the group’s progress in Iraq. One of the Twitter statements said that ISIS is determined “to conquer the entire state” of Nineveh.

Led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the militant group fighting for the creation of a huge Middle Eastern caliphate previously had strong ties with the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. However, al-Baghdadi is believed to have broken up with Al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahri, and since then ISIS fighters have reportedly clashed with Al-Qaeda in Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have fled Mosul and the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh, which the jihadists have largely taken under control. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) placed the number of refugees at 500,000.

Those fleeing the region included demoralized Iraqi troops, who chaotically left their positions, dropping uniforms, weapons, munitions and military hardware.

Jaket milik seragam Tentera Iraq terletak di atas tanah di hadapan mayat yang terbakar keluar kenderaan tentera Iraq berhampiran dengan pusat pemeriksaan Kukjali Iraq Tentera Darat, beberapa 10km timur bandar utara Mosul, pada 11 Jun 2014 (The jacket belonging to an Iraqi Army uniform lies on the ground in front of the remains of a burnt out Iraqi army vehicle close to the Kukjali Iraqi Army checkpoint, some 10km of east of the northern city of Mosul, on June 11, 2014 (AFP Photo/Safin Hamed)

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IRAQ terbuka terhadap kepada SERANGAN Udara Amerika Syarikat MEMBIMBANGKAN - laporan

Kit tentera Iraq tanah perbuangan sampah dekat dengan pusat pemeriksaan Kukjali Iraq Tentera Darat, beberapa 10km timur bandar utara Mosul, pada 11 Jun, 2014, sehari selepas militan Sunni, termasuk pejuang dari Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIL yang) menakluki bandar (Iraqi military kit litters the ground close to the Kukjali Iraqi Army checkpoint, some 10km of east of the northern city of Mosul, on June 11, 2014, the day after Sunni militants, including fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the city (AFP Photo/Safin Hamed)

Srikandi גבורה - Iraq telah secara peribadi yang ditunjukkan kepada pentadbiran Obama bahawa ia akan menyambut serangan udara dengan sama ada pesawat atau pesawat yang dipandu manusia yang mensasarkan Al-Qaeda militan cabang dalam wilayah Iraq, kata pegawai negara itu.

Seorang pegawai kanan Amerika Syarikat berkata pentadbiran Obama sedang mem-pertimbangkan pilihan dalam membantu usaha kerajaan Iraq terhadap militan Islam, yang telah berjuang dan memenangi keuntungan besar di kawasan Sunni majoriti negara dalam beberapa hari kebelakangan ini, Wall Street Journal melaporkan.

Orang-orang pilihan termasuk "sokongan kinetik" untuk tentera Iraq dalam menentang kumpulan Islam yang sebelum ini bersekutu dengan Al-Qaeda - Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (ISIS/ISIL). Kumpulan itu merampas 2 bandar-bandar utama di utara Baghdad minggu ini, ringan tangan mengalahkan pasukan keselamatan Iraq di sepanjang jalan, menurut laporan.

Tiada keputusan mengenai tindakan di Iraq telah dibuat, menurut pegawai kanan.

Sumber-sumber Wall Street Journal tidak menyatakan sama ada serangan udara akan datang dari pesawat tanpa pemandu atau pesawat yang dipandu manusia.

Bernadette Meehan, seorang jurucakap Majlis Keselamatan Negara, tidak mengulas mengenai permintaan Perdana Menteri Iraq Nouri al-Maliki kerana sokongan tentera, berkata dalam satu kenyataan bahawa "Kami tidak akan masuk ke dalam butir-butir perbincangan diplomatik kita, tetapi Kerajaan Iraq telah membuat jelas bahawa mereka mengalu-alukan sokongan kami."

Iraq sebelum ini telah meminta Amerika Syarikat untuk akses kepada pesawat tentera yg boleh digunakan terhadap kuasa-kuasa pemberontak, banyak yg tlh memberanikan oleh perang saudara yang sengit di negara jiran Syria. Setakat Washington enggan memenuhi kekurangan-pesawat, kata pegawai, tetapi telah membekalkan peluru berpandu Hellfire dan pesawat pengawasan.

Tahun lepas, Menteri Luar Iraq Hoshyar Zebari mencadangkan bahawa pesawat tentera boleh digunakan untuk sasaran militan, tetapi pegawai Amerika menolak keras, berkata permintaan itu tidak datang dari Maliki, The New York Times melaporkan.

Sementara itu, Iraq meminta penghantaran disegerakan senjata pesanan utama, ter-masuk puluhan F-16 jet pejuang menguncup dengan Lockheed Martin dan puluhan Apache helikopter Boeing, untuk menentang pejuang-pejuang pemberontak.

IRAQ Open to US Airstrikes Against Jihadists - reports

Iraq has privately indicated to the Obama administration that it would welcome airstrikes with either drones or manned aircraft that target Al-Qaeda offshoot militants in Iraqi territory, US officials say.

A senior US official said the Obama administration is considering options in aiding the Iraqi government’s fight against Islamist militants, who have fought for and won major gains in the nation’s Sunni-majority areas in recent days, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Those options include “kinetic support” for the Iraqi military in its fight against an Islamist group formerly allied with Al-Qaeda – the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL). The group seized two major cities north of Baghdad this week, handily defeating Iraqi security forces along the way, according to reports.

No decisions on action in Iraq have been made, according to the senior official.

The Wall Street Journal sources did not specify whether airstrikes would come from unmanned drones or manned aircraft.

Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, did not comment on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s requests for military support, saying in a statement that “We are not going to get into details of our diplomatic discussions, but the government of Iraq has made clear that they welcome our support.”

Iraq had previously asked the US for access to armed drones that could be used against insurgent forces, many of which have been emboldened by the fierce civil war in neighboring Syria. Washington has thus far refused to supply those drones, officials said, but has supplied Hellfire missiles and surveillance drones.

Last year, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari suggested that armed drones could be used to target militants, but American officials balked, saying the request did not come from Maliki, The New York Times reported.

Meanwhile, Iraq is requesting the hastened delivery of major weapons orders, including dozens of F-16 fighter jets contracted with Lockheed Martin and dozens of Boeing’s Apache helicopters, to counter the insurgent fighters.

Keluarga Iraq yang melarikan diri dari keganasan di wilayah Nineveh utara berkumpul di pusat pemeriksaan Kurdish di Aski kalak, 40 km Barat Arbil, di rantau autonomi Kurdistan (Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski kalak, 40 kms West of Arbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region (AFP Photo/Safin Hamed)

"Apa yang kami katakan ialah perlu ada fikir segera," Lukman faily, duta Iraq ke Amerika Syarikat, memberitahu The Wall Street Journal. "Kami kini menjangka Amerika Syarikat menghargai pengertian ini yang mendesak."

Faily berkata "apa yang kita perlukan" adalah penyampaian jet dan Apache secepat mungkin, bukan berbulan-bulan lagi seperti yang dirancang.

"Amunisi, peluru berpandu Hellfire, peralatan pengawasan . . . ini tidak permainan-pengurup," katanya. "Kita perlu pengurup-permainan."

Sudah minggu ini, ISIL telah mengambil kawalan Mosul dan Tikrit, bandar yang ke-2 terbesar di negara dan kampung halaman bekas Presiden Saddam Hussein,.

Sementara itu, di bandar Samarra, yang terletak jauh ke selatan daripada Tikrit di tebing timur Sungai Tigris, pertempuran dilaporkan meletus pada Rabu antara tentera Iraq dan militan tiba di trak dengan mesingan, menurut AFP. Samarra, sebuah Tapak Warisan Dunia UNESCO, adalah rumah kepada beberapa tempat suci untuk umat Islam Syiah.

Satu sumber tentera memberitahu Al Arabiya saluran berita bahawa angkatan Kurdish dilaporkan berjuang militan ISIL di Kirkuk untuk menghentikan serangan mereka.

Terdahulu, ISIL dgn bangganya penawanan penapisan minyak terbesar Iraq utara bandar Baiji, dengan mendakwa ia telah "merampas tanpa pukulan." Kilang minyak, yang terletak kurang daripada 180 kilometer (110 batu) dari Mosul, adalah salah satu strategik objek dijamin oleh tentera yang diketuai dalam serangan Iraq 2003 dan teliti mencari senjata pemusnah besar-besaran. Tiada bahan kimia yang pernah ditemui di sana.

Majlis Keselamatan PBB mengutuk perbalahan terkini ISIL dengan berkata dalam satu kenyataan bahawa "serangan pengganas baru-baru ini . . . sedang dilakukan terhadap rakyat Iraq dalam usaha untuk menjejaskan kestabilan negara dan rantau ini."

"Majlis Keselamatan kesal kerasnya peristiwa baru-baru ini di bandar Mosul di Iraq di mana unsur-unsur organisasi pengganas . . . ISIL telah mengambil alih bahagian-bahagian penting di bandar ini, termasuk Konsulat Turki dan bangunan-bangunan kerajaan banyak, dan beratus-ratus pelarian ribuan orang, "kata majlis itu.

Kawasan berhampiran dengan sempadan Syria ISIL telah mengukuhkan tapak perniagaan utama di seluruh utara dan barat Iraq. Fallujah, sebuah bandar utama di barat Baghdad dan tempat pertempuran utama yang berikut pencerobohan yang diketuai pada tahun 2003, jatuh kepada ISIL bulan lalu.

"What we are saying is that there needs to be a sense of urgency," Lukman Faily, Iraq's ambassador to the US, told The Wall Street Journal. "We now expect the US to appreciate this sense of urgency."

Faily said “what we need” is the delivery of the jets and Apaches as soon as possible, not months away as is planned.

"Ammunition, Hellfire missiles, surveillance equipment . . . these are not game-changers," he said. "We need game-changers."

Already this week, ISIL has taken control of Mosul and Tikrit, the nation’s second-largest city and former president Saddam Hussein’s hometown, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the city of Samarra, located further south of Tikrit on the east bank of the Tigris River, clashes reportedly broke out on Wednesday between Iraqi forces and militants arriving in trucks with machine guns, according to AFP. Samarra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to several holy sites for Shia Muslims.

A military source told Al Arabiya news channel that Kurdish forces are reportedly fighting ISIL militants in Kirkuk to stop their offensive.

Earlier, ISIL boasted the capture of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery north of the city of Baiji, claiming it had “seized it without a shot.” The oil refinery, located less than 180 kilometers (110 miles) from Mosul, was one of the strategic objects secured by US-led forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was thoroughly searched for weapons of mass destruction. No chemical agents were ever found there.

The United Nations Security Council condemned ISIL’s latest offensives, saying in a statement that "the recent terrorist attacks . . . are being perpetrated against the people of Iraq in an attempt to destabilize the country and region."

"The Security Council deplored in the strongest terms the recent events in the city of Mosul in Iraq where elements of the terrorist organization . . . ISIL have taken over significant parts of the city, including the Turkish Consulate and many government buildings, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people," the council said.

ISIL has already established major footholds throughout north and west Iraq, areas close to the Syrian border. Fallujah, a major city just west of Baghdad and the site of major battles following the US-led invasion in 2003, fell to ISIL months ago.

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