Reports: Rebels Seize Control of Iraq's Mosul
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Armed fighters believed to be part of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, government officials said.
Overnight, hundreds of rebels launched an assault on Mosul, 350km north of Baghdad, engaging in combat with troops and police, the officials said on Tuesday.
"The city of Mosul is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants," an Interior Ministry official told AFP, making it the second city to fall to anti-government forces this year.
In a related development, Turkish media reported that 28 Turkish lorry drivers were taken hostage by the ISIL fighters in Mosul.
Mosul is the capital of Nineveh province. In recent days, rebels have launched major operations in Nineveh and four other provinces, killing scores of people and highlighting both their long reach and the weakness of Iraq's security forces.
Mosul is the second city to fall to rebels this year, after the government lost control of Fallujah.
Before the entire city fell, they took control of the governor's headquarters, prisons and television stations.
The AP reported that fighters had freed about 1,400 prisoners held in jails in the city.
Ali Mahmoud, the media official for Ninevah province, said rebels armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers stormed the provincial headquarters building in Mosul late on Monday night.
