World this Week: Al-Qaeda Seizes Iraq’s City Mosul
Iraq is in a extremely serious situation as the insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Al-Qaeda offshoot has seized the city Mosul that stands on the west bank of the Tigris River.
Insurgents have seized most of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, including the provincial government headquarters.
Fighters overran maximum area of the city overnight after Iraqi soldiers and police apparently fled their posts in some instances discarding their uniforms as the ISIS forces swarmed into the city.
Iraq’s speaker of parliament, Osama Nujaifi, said the city that ranks as the capital of northern Iraq is now entirely in insurgent hands and has appealed to the US ambassador for an American military intervention.
Mosul has become a hell for the civilians. Fearing for their lives, hundreds of families have fled the city. According to a report by United Nation about 8,868 people were killed in Iraq in 2013 in violence. The UN mission in Iraq reported that May was the deadliest month so far this year, with 799 Iraqis killed in violence, including 603 civilians. The US State Department issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” by the developments in Mosul and that Washington would “support a strong, coordinated response.”
—Nishant Kr Azad with inputs from agencies
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