#baiji

Militants attack Iraqi oil refinery as Maliki sack military commanders
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/militants-attack-iraqi-oil-refinery-maliki-sack-military-commande

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/161300-01-08.jpg

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on Youtube on June 17, 2014, allegedly shows militants from the Islamic State of #Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) parading with an Iraqi army vehicle in the northern city of #Baiji in the in Salaheddin province. (Photo: AFP / Youtube)

Militants pressing a major offensive in Iraq attacked the country’s biggest oil refinery Wednesday, as the premier scrambled to regain the initiative by sacking security commanders and reaching out to political rivals. The United States, which is mulling air strikes against the insurgents, said it believed Baghdad’s security forces were rallying against the assault, while #Iran pledged not to let Shia shrines in Iraq fall to the Sunni militants leading the charge. read (...)

#Nouri_al-Maliki #US

#ISIS tightens control of #Mosul, seizes oil refinery town
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/isis-tightens-control-mosul-seizes-oil-refinery-town

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/104067-01-08.jpg

Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski kalak, 40 kilometers West of Arbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region, on June 10, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Safin Hamed)

Jihadis were firmly in control of #Iraq's Mosul on Wednesday, patrolling the streets and calling for employees to return to work a day after seizing the northern city, witnesses said, as an estimated 500,000 residents fled the city. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) overran Mosul and a string of northern towns on Tuesday, in a major blow to the Iraqi government that the United States warned threatens the entire region. read (...)

#Baiji