Iraq in crisis

As many as 500,000 people have been forced to flee Iraq's second city of Mosul after Islamist militants
effectively took control of it.
Troops were among those fleeing as hundreds of jihadists from the ISIS group overran the city and much
of the surrounding province of Nineveh.
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki responded by asking parliament to declare a state of emergency to grant him
greater powers.
The US said the development showed ISIS is a threat to the entire region.
ISIS - the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - is an offshoot of al-Qaeda which now controls
considerable territory in eastern Syria and western and central Iraq, in a campaign to set up a militant
enclave straddling the border.
'Chaotic situation'
Residents of Mosul said jihadist flags were flying from buildings and that the militants had announced
over loudspeakers they had "come to liberate" the city.
"The situation is chaotic inside the city, and there is nobody to help us," said government worker Umm
Karam. "We are afraid."
ISIS in Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIS ) has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters, and grew out of an al-
Qaeda-liked organisation in Iraq
ISIS has exploited the standoff between the Iraqi government and the minority Sunni Arab community,
which complains that Shia PM Nouri Maliki is monopolising power
It has already taken over Ramadi and Falluja, but taking over Mosul is a far greater feat than anything
the movement has achieved so far, and would send shock waves throughout the region
Critical test ahead for Iraq
How did Iraqi militants take over Mosul?
Many police stations were reported to have been set on fire and hundreds of detainees set free.
"The army forces threw away their weapons, changed their clothes, abandoned their vehicles and left the
city," Mahmud Nuri, a resident fleeing Mosul, told the AFP news agency.
The BBC's Jim Muir says the Iraqi security forces appear to have nothing to fight back against the ISIS
militants.
Dozens of vehicles were destroyed on roads in and around Mosul
Tens of thousands of people have left Mosul, and are heading to Kurdistan
Hundreds of cars carrying Mosul residents caused a giant traffic jam outside the nearby city of Erbil
There are concerns over how Kurdistan will cope with the influx of people
US State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the situation in Mosul was "extremely serious" and that
the US supported "a strong, co-ordinated response to push back against this aggression".
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "gravely concerned" at the situation.
But our correspondent says everything that has happened in Syria indicates that the West would not want
to get involved in another Middle East quagmire.
Heading to Kurdistan
Sources have told BBC Arabic that the tens of thousands of fleeing refugees are heading to three towns in
the nearby region of Kurdistan where authorities have set up temporary camps for them.
Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani issued a statement appealing to the UN refugee agency for
help.
Security sources told the BBC that fierce fighting had erupted between Iraqi forces and ISIS fighters in a
town called Rashad near Kirkuk, south-east of Mosul.
There were also reports that jihadists had seized other areas of Kirkuk and two towns in the neighbouring
Salaheddin province.
In a televised announcement, Mr Maliki said that security forces had been placed on a state of "maximum
alert".
He also said he had asked parliament to declare a state of emergency - which would broaden arrest
powers and allow curfews to be imposed - and a "general mobilisation" of civilians.
Parts of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and much of the nearby city of Fallujah have been under
the control of ISIS and its allies since late December.
ISIS has also been informally controlling much of Nineveh province for months, and in the past week has
attacked other areas of western and northern Iraq, killing scores of people.
The Iraqi government is struggling with a surge in sectarian violence that killed almost 800 people,
including 603 civilians, in May alone, according to the UN. Last year, more than 8,860 people died.