An al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq seized control of the big northern city of Mosul yesterday, putting security forces to flight in a spectacular show of strength against the Shi’ite-led Baghdad government.
The capture of the city of some two million by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Sunni Muslims waging sectarian war on both sides of the nearby Iraqi-Syrian border, adds to its grip on key western cities and followed four days of heavy fighting in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province.
The United States, which pulled out its troops two and a half years ago, pledged to help Iraq leaders “push back against this aggression” as the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked Parliament to declare a state of emergency.
But the battle, for the time being, seemed to be over, with police discarding uniforms and weapons and fleeing a city where the black flag of ISIL was flying over government buildings.
“We have lost Mosul this morning,” said a colonel at a local military command centre.
“Army and police forces left their positions and ISIL terrorists are in full control.
“It’s a total collapse of the security forces.”
A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of soldiers and policemen, some mutilated, littering the streets.
“We can’t beat them. We can’t. They are well trained in street fighting and we’re not. We need a whole army to drive them out of Mosul,” one officer told Reuters. “They’re like ghosts: they appear, strike and disappear in seconds.”
They’re like ghosts: they appear, strike and disappear in seconds
The fall of Mosul, a largely Sunni Arab city after years of ethnic and sectarian fighting, deals a serious blow to Baghdad’s efforts to fight Sunni militants who have regained ground and momentum in Iraq over the past year, taking Falluja and parts of Ramadi, in the desert west of Baghdad at the start of the year.
Control there, in Anbar province, as well as around Mosul in the north, would help ISIL and its allies consolidate control along the barely populated frontier with Syria, where they are fighting President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Shi’ite Iran. Thousands of families were fleeing north from Mosul, one of the great historic cities of the Middle East, towards the nearby Kurdistan region, where Iraq’s ethnic Kurds enjoy autonomy.
“Mosul now is like hell. It’s in flames and death is everywhere,” said Amina Ibrahim, who was leaving with her children. Her husband had been killed last year, in a bombing.
In a statement, the US State Department said it was “deeply concerned” and had senior officials in Baghdad and Washington monitoring events in coordination with the Iraqi government, Kurdish officials and other Iraqi figures.
It said Washington would “support a strong, coordinated response”.
ISIL, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, broke with al Qaeda’s international leader, Osama bin Laden’s former lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri, and has clashed with al Qaeda fighters in Syria.
ISIL posted photographs of its fighters wearing black balaclavas on its “Nineveh State” Twitter account, interspersed with verses from the Koran. The group dubbed the Mosul offensive “Enter Upon Them Through The Gates”.
In a newsletter, ISIL enjoined Sunnis to join them in the fight against Maliki’s “Safavid” army − a reference to the Persian dynasty that promoted Shi’ite Islam. “Join the ranks oh brothers!” ran one slogan. “Maliki’s tyrannical strength no match for pious believers.”