The fighting
continued in Iraq today near a main oil refinery, with government forces
trying to stop a week-long attack from members of the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria and others. The Iraqi foreign minister has asked the
United States for air strikes against the Sunni militants' positions but
President Obama, in a meeting with leaders of Congress today, said he
wanted for now to focus on training Iraq's security forces and providing
equipment. Thousand of displaced civilians have been looking for
shelter since the the attacks began. --Lloyd Young (25 photos total)
An
image downloaded on June 11 from the jihadist website Welayat
Salahuddin shows militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) waving the trademark Islamists flag after they allegedly seized
an Iraqi army checkpoint in the northern Iraqi province of Salahuddin.
Jihadists are pushing toward Baghdad on June 12 after capturing a town
just hours to the north, as the US mulled air strikes in a bid to
bolster Iraq's collapsing security forces. (AFP/Getty Images)
An
image uploaded June 14 on the jihadist website Welayat Salahuddin
allegedly shows militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an
unknown location in the Salaheddin province. A major offensive
spearheaded by ISIL but also involving supporters of executed dictator
Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three
others since it was launched on June 9. (AFP/Getty Images) #
Civilian
children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi
security forces and al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) in the northern Iraq city of Mosul on June 10. Radical Sunni
Muslim insurgents seized control of most of Iraq's second largest city
of Mosul early on Tuesday, overrunning a military base and freeing
hundreds of prisoners in a spectacular strike against the Shi'ite-led
Iraqi government. (Reuters) #
Tribal
fighters from Ramadi wave the Iraqi flag and shout slogans in support
of Iraqi security forces in Kerbala on June 15. The insurgent offensive
that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the
country on Sunday, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town
close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces.
(Mushtaq Muhammed/Reuters) #
Demonstrators
chant pro-al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on
June 16 as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial
government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest
of Baghdad, Iraq. The CIA and other spy agencies are scrambling to close
intelligence gaps as they seek ways to support possible military or
covert action against the leaders of the al-Qaida-inspired militant
group that has seized parts of Iraq and threatens Baghdadís government.
(Associated Press) #
Personnel
from the Kurdish security forces detain a man suspected of being a
militant belonging to the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) in the outskirts of Kirkuk on June 16. Iraq's Shi'ite
rulers defied Western calls on Tuesday to reach out to Sunnis to defuse
the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq's
main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of
promoting "genocide". (Ako Rasheed/Reuters) #
Iraqi
Shiite tribesmen brandish their weapons as they gather to show their
willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist
militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities on June 17
in the southern Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf. Fighting erupted at
the northern approaches to Baghdad Tuesday as Iraq accused Saudi Arabia
of backing militants who have seized swathes of territory in an
offensive the UN says threatens its very existence. (Haidar
Hamdani/AFP/Getty Images) #
An
Iraqi security forces member with his weapon takes position as people,
who fled from the violence in Mosul, arrive in their vehicles at a camp
for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Arbil in Iraq's
Kurdistan region on June 14. The insurgent offensive that has threatened
to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country on Sunday,
when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian
border, clashing with police and government forces. Islamic State in
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters and other Sunni Muslim armed groups
have stormed several towns on the road to Baghdad after seizing the city
of Mosul nearly a week ago. (Jacob Russell/Reuters) #
Iraqis
who have fled fighting between security forces and al-Qaida inspired
militants in their hometown of Tal Afar carry their belongings at
Germawa camp for displaced Iraqis, in a hot dusty plain in the
largely-autonomous Kurdish area of Dahuk, 260 miles (430 kilometers)
northwest of Baghdad on June 17. (Associated Press) #
Iraqis
who fled the violence in their home towns wait at a refugee camp near
the city of Erbil, northern Iraq, on June 16. Iraqis who fled the
violence in Tal Afar arrive at a checkpoint in Erbil, Kurdistan region,
northern Iraq. Jihadist militants fighting the Iraqi government on 16
June claimed further advances in the north of the troubled country. The
rapid advance of The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and
other fighters from Iraq's Sunni minority who complain of discrimination
at the hands of al-Maliki's Shiite-led government has caused
international concern. (EPA) #
Iraqis
who have fled the violence in their hometown of Mosul reach for a fruit
during a food distribution at Khazir refugee camp outside of Irbil, 217
miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, on June 16. Sunni
militants captured a strategic city along the highway to Syria on
Monday, moving closer to their goal of linking areas under their control
on both sides of the border. The al-Qaida breakaway group leading the
push in Iraq also is fighting in the civil war next door in Syria where
it controls territory abutting the Iraqi border. (Associated Press) #
An
Iraqi man buys military uniforms at a shop in Basra, southeast of
Baghdad on June 16. The US is contemplating talks with its arch-enemy
Iran to support the Iraqi government in its battle with Sunni Islamist
insurgents who routed Baghdad's army and seized the north of the country
in the past week. The stunning onslaught by militants from the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant threatens to dismember Iraq and unleash
all-out sectarian warfare across a crescent of the Middle East, with no
regard for national borders that the fighters reject. (Essam
Al-Sudani/Reuters) #
An
Iraqi Shiite man cleans weapons as he gets ready to defend his Sadr
City district in case of an attack by Sunni extremists on June 13 in
Baghdad. Leading Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on
Iraqis today to take up arms against the offensive spearheaded by the
jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching on
Baghdad, as thousands volunteered to bolster the the capital's defenses.
(Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images) #
Iraqi
laborers work at a white cement factory in Bartala in the Nineveh
province, east of Mosul on June 17. Fighting erupted at the northern
approaches to Baghdad today as Iraq accused Saudi Arabia of backing
militants who have seized swathes of its territory in an offensive the
UN says threatens its very existence. (Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images) #
An
Iraqi civilian, volunteering to fight a militant offensive, kisses a
Koran book as he queues with comrades before boarding buses to reach
Mosul on June 15 in the southern port city of Basra. Leading Shiite
cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged Iraqis on June 13 to take up
arms against Sunni militants marching on Baghdad, as thousands
volunteered to bolster the capital's defenses. (AFP/Getty Images) #
An
Iraqi soldier pats down men as they arrive to volunteer to join the
fight against a major offensive by jihadists in northern Iraq on June
13, 2014, at recruiting center in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces
clashed with militants advancing on the city of Baquba, just 60
kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad, as an offensive spearheaded by
jihadists drew closer to the capital. (Ali al-Saadi/AFP/Getty Images) #
Iraqi
men who volunteered to join the fight against a major offensive by
jihadists in northern Iraq climb on an army truck outside a recruiting
center in the capital Baghdad on June 13. Iraqi forces clashed with
militants advancing on the city of Baquba, just 60 kilometres (40 miles)
north of Baghdad, as an offensive spearheaded by jihadists drew closer
to the capital. (Ali al-Saadi/AFP/Getty Images) #
Members
of the Shiite Muslim Mehdi Army militia, take part in training in the
southern Iraqi city of Basra on June 17. Iraqi Shiite volunteers, who
had been fighting in neighboring Syria, have been heading home to battle
an offensive that has brought militants to near Baghdad, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said. (AFP/Getty Images) #
Members
of the Iraqi security forces patrol an area near the borders between
Karbala Province and Anbar Province on June 16. The US said it could
launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support
the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents
across Iraq that has scrambled alliances in the Middle East. (Mushtaq
Muhammed/Reuters) #
An
Iraqi security officer, stands guard outside the Church of the Virgin
Mary in the northern town of Bartala on June 15 east of the northern
city of Mosul. Iraqi security stayed in the town to protect the local
churches and community. The exiled governor of Mosul, Iraq's second city
which was seized by Islamist fighters last week, has called for US and
Turkish air strikes against the militants. (Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty
Images) #
Iraqis
attend Mass on June 15 at the Chaldean Church of the Virgin Mary of the
Harvest, in Alqosh, set in the seventh century Saint Hormoz monastery
built into a hill overlooking Alqosh, a village of some 6,000
inhabitants about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Mosul, northern
Iraq. Dozens of Christian families that fled to this ancient Iraqi
village have taken a much-traversed route -- many from their minority
community have escaped to Alqosh before, in fear for their lives. This
time, few say they want to go back to their homes, seeking safety under
the Kurdish forces known as the Peshmerga. (Associated Press) #
A
Kurdish Peshmerga fighter wounded in clashes with jihadists from the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Kirkuk is watched by a
family member as he lies on a bed in the emergency ward of a hospital in
Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq,
on June 18. The rapid shift to Kurdish control in Iraq's ethnically
mixed oil city of Kirkuk is a step toward a long-held dream for Kurds
but has sparked fears among other groups. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)
#
A
burnt vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces is pictured at a
checkpoint in east Mosul, one day after radical Sunni Muslim insurgents
seized control of the city on June 11. Sunni insurgents from an al Qaeda
splinter group extended their control from the northern city of Mosul
on Wednesday to an area further south that includes Iraq's biggest oil
refinery in a devastating show of strength against the Shi'ite-led
government. (Reuters) #
A
member of Kurdish Peshmerga forces takes position overlooking militants
of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Jalawla
in the Diyala province, on June 14, 2014. A major offensive by
militants, spearheaded by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant but involving other groups, overran all of Nineveh and chunks
of three more provinces in a matter of days. (Rick Findler/AFP/Getty
Images) #
