LOC11:04
08:04 GMT
BAGHDAD, June 10 (KUNA) -- Armed Islamic militants have seized government buildings in the northern province of Nineveh, some sectors in the northern city of Mosul, the nearby airport, and stormed prisons freeing scores of prisoners, security sources reported on Tuesday.
The sources said hundreds of gunmen of the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), also known in Arabic as "Daesh," carried out wide scale attacks, taking control of state administrative buildings in Nineveh. The attacks prompted many civilians to flee some sectors in the city of Mosul where mosques' Imams had called on residents to take up arms and fight the attackers.
A security source confirmed that many civilians fled their homes in Mosul and nearby regions, where the militants, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda organization, expanded their control, overrunning the local police station.
"Daesh" gunmen have taken control of sectors in two areas of Mosul, prompting the government security forces to withdraw from the city, while the gunmen stormed a police station and freed prisoners, the source said. They have also occupied buildings of two televisions canals.
The gunmen, engaged in fierce clashes with the government forces since the pre-dawn hours, have also seized two other prisons releasing hundreds of inmates, mostly convicted Al-Qaeda activists, the security source said.
Meanwhile, Imams at mosques called on the residents to take up arms and fight back the militants.
"Daesh" has hideouts in western and central Iraq and the government forces have been engaged in sporadic fighting against the armed militants that advocate Al-Qaeda's hardline religious thoughts.(end)
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