IRAQ: Islamic militants parade in captured Iraqi military vehicles in Mosul

Record ID: 450894

  • Title: IRAQ: Islamic militants parade in captured Iraqi military vehicles in Mosul
  • Date: 12th June 2014
  • Summary: MOSUL, IRAQ (JUNE 12, 2014) (REUTERS FOR AGENCY POOL): ***MOBILE PHONE QUALITY*** VARIOUS OF IRAQI MILITARY TRUCKS CARRYING MASKED MILITANTS OF ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND THE LEVANT (ISIL) WAVING BLACK FLAGS VARIOUS OF ISIL FIGHTER PARADING IN STREET FLASHING "V" SIGN WITH ONE HEARD SAYING "THE ISLAMIC STATE" AND "TOWARDS BAGHDAD" ISIL MILITANTS IN PICKUP TRUCK WITH ONE SAYING "ISLAMIC STATE WILL REMAIN AND WILL EXPAND, GOD WILLING" VARIOUS OF PARADE
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2TP03CTQQR0BYERHF832BL77K
  • Story Text: A group from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Thursday (June 12) staged a parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from a collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since its fighters drove out of the desert and overran the northern metropolis.
    The black-clad and masked ISIL fighters waved the black flag of the Islamic State and flashing the "V" sign with some shouts "Towards Baghdad".
    Witnesses saw ISIL fly two helicopters over the parade, apparently the first time the militant group has obtained aircraft in years of waging insurgency on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier.
    It was unclear who the pilots were, but Sunnis who served in the forces of Saddam Hussein have rallied to the insurgency.
    Since Tuesday, black-clad ISIL fighters who do not recognise the region's modern frontiers have seized Mosul and Tikrit, Saddam's home town, and other towns and cities north of Baghdad.
    The army has evaporated in the face of the onslaught, abandoning bases and U.S.-provided weapons. Online videos showed purportedly a column of hundreds, possibly thousands, of troops without uniforms being marched under guard near Tikrit.
    Security and police sources said Sunni militants now controlled parts of the town of Udhaim, 90 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, after most of the army troops left their positions and withdrew towards the nearby town of Khalis.
    Further south, the fighters extended their lightning advance to towns only about an hour's drive from the capital, where Shi'ite militia are mobilising for a potential replay of the ethnic and sectarian bloodbath of 2006-2007.
    Security was stepped up in Baghdad to prevent the Sunni militants from reaching the capital, which is itself divided into Sunni and Shi'ite neighbourhoods and saw ferocious sectarian street fighting in 2006-2007 under U.S. occupation.
  • Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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