An elderly man is assisted as families fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul wait at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region (6/10). More than 150,000 people are forced to flee Iraq's second city Mosul after Islamist militants effectively take control of it and several other towns. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
TEMPO.CO, Mosul – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged the parliament to issue a national emergency state on Tuesday following an attack from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
BBC reported that ISIL has had control over the city of Mosul, causing 150,000 residents to flee. The police and army stationed in the city even fell back after a series of heavy attacks in the past couple of days.
Mosul is the capital of Nineveh Province, with a total population of 1.8 million residents. Mosul is the second city captured by ISIL this year following Falujjah of Anbar Province.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Sunni militants have controled almost all corners of Mosul City, including government offices, prisons, TV stations, and Ghizlani Military Base. They also have been reported to release thousands of inmates from the city prisons.
