Iraq crisis: ISIS battles for Baghdad - June 14 as it happened

Group claims mass killings of Iraqi troops, as militants battle security forces 50 miles from Baghdad - follow latest developments

A man is executed in a video released by ISIS
A man is executed in a new video released by ISIS
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00.05 Thanks for following, join us back here tomorrow for more coverage of the situation in Iraq.

22.55 The secretary general of the Kurdish security forces is now saying however that only two people had died near the town of Jalawla in what he described as shelling. Police maintain they carried out an airstrike in the area.

22.10 The latest report coming out of Iraq is that an air strike from the Iraqi air force has killed seven Kurdish security personnel in the Diyala province.The attack reportedly took place near the town of Jalawla in the east of the country. More when we have it.

20.43 AFP are also reporting that the ISIS insurgency in Iraq could force Iran and the US to work together. Their take on the unlikely partnership is here:

Shiite Iran offered Saturday to consider working with long-time foe Washington if it takes the lead in helping repel Sunni Arab militants who have seized a swathe of northern Iraq.

The offer came as Iraqi commanders said soldiers had recaptured two towns north of Baghdad, thousands of volunteers answered a call to arms from top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and a US carrier group steamed into Gulf waters.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the besieged city of Samarra north of the capital Friday to rally troops and pray at the Al-Askari Shiite shrine, a revered site whose 2006 bombing by Al-Qaeda sparked a sectarian conflict that killed tens of thousands.

President Barack Obama said he was "looking at all the options" to halt the offensive that has brought jihadist-led militants within 50 miles (80 kilometres) of Baghdad's city limits, but ruled out any return of US combat troops.

"We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces," he said.

19.59 Eight guards protecting a leading figure in Iraq's Shiite community have been killed in an attack on his convoy, AFP are reporting. Here are their words:

Gunmen attacked the convoy of the deputy head of Iraq's Shiite religious endowment on Saturday, killing eight of his guards, the senior cleric said.

Sheikh Sami al-Massudi said his convoy was ambushed near Ishaqi, a town north of Baghdad that was retaken from militants on Saturday, sparking hours-long clashes in which 10 guards were also wounded.

The endowment is a major organisation that manages Shiite religious sites in Iraq.

"We were on our way to Samarra, but we were surprised by a fierce battle near Ishaqi," Massudi said.

Gunmen were hiding in farmland next to the road, and opened fire on the convoy with machineguns and sniper rifles, he said, adding that the fighting lasted from Saturday morning into the afternoon.

"I cannot say if I was the target," Massudi said.

Ishaqi was one of two towns retaken by security forces on Saturday from Sunni militants who have seized a swathe of territory in a major offensive.

The militant attack, spearheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, was launched on Monday night.

Security forces performed poorly when the onslaught was unleashed, but they now appear to be recovering from the initial shock and have begun to regain ground.

19.24: Philip Sherwell, our chief US correspondent has been looking at the USS Bush deployment a bit more:

The USS Bush carries two squadrons of about 48 F18 fighter jets that could conduct air strikes with just a few hours notice. Also on board are patrol helicopters and reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft and planes with electronic warfare capability.

The F18s can each carry about 10,000 pounds of ordnance in a variety of bombs and missiles for air-to-ground and air-to-air operations. “The F18s could be used to conduct immediate strikes,” Dan Goure, vice-president of the Lexington Institute defence think-tank and a Pentagon consultant, tells The Telegraph.

“They would have to fly up from the Gulf over much of Iraq to the north so they could not loiter too long, even with refuelling, but you could them up quickly for strikes as soon as the orders came.”

He said the F18s would operate most effectively with US special forces teams deployed on the ground with targetters calling in strikes on ISIS targets. Pentagon planners believe that ISIS forces are currently extremely vulnerable as they advance in convoys down exposed highways between towns and cities.

Meanwhile in Iraq this doesn't sound very good...

Here is the USS H W Bush sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea on 27 February 2014

The aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush transits the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea on 27 February 2014

18.00 US sends Nuclear-powered aircraft to Gulf

Chuck Hagel, the defence secretary, said that he had ordered an aircraft carrier and its accompanying battle group into the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers airstrikes. The USS George HW Bush and her more than 50 attack aircraft were available to conduct strikes against Islamic militants if ordered, officials said earlier.

There were unconfirmed reports that the carrier – named after the first president Bush who launched the 1991 Gulf war to free Kuwait – had already headed towards the the Gulf on Friday. The 1092-foot, nuclear-powered carrier deployed from her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, in February on a regular rotation to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf region. The vessel is being accompanied from the North Arabian Sea by guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun. The ships will be in their new positions by later on Saturday.

"The order will provide the commander-in-chief additional flexibility should military options be required to protect American lives, citizens and interests in Iraq," the Pentagon said in a statement.

17.21

Very interesting interview with Esmat Rajab, the head of Iraqi Kurdistan’s most powerful political party in Mosul, who says Maliki wanted Mosul to fall for political reasons.

I believe al-Maliki wanted Mosul to be captured by ISIS so that he could force Parliament in Baghdad to declare a state of emergency. Once that happens, he will be the only ruler of Iraq and he will have all authority. Mosul was under siege from ISIS for several days and he didn’t do one thing to stop it.

17.15

Upcoming dispatch from our correspondent Ruth Sherlock with Carol Malouf in Khazil will be on line soon. Here is the intro:

An elderly man is ripped from his bed in the dead of night. Blindfolded, the last thing he feels is the blade slitting his throat. A taxi driver, made to kneel on the side of the road, trembling as a gun is put to his head and the trigger is pulled. In one summary execution, the bodies of five men are shown convulsing under the force of the bullets being fired into their backs.

The men of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the jihadists now rampaging across northern Iraq and Syria are proud of their murders. The real footage, posted online as propaganda videos for the group, reveals the cruel psychopathy of men whose humanity has been lost to their extremist cause.

17.12

Diplomats and soldiers trapped inside Turkey's consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul had no option but to surrender this week after hundreds of heavily armed Islamist militants surrounded the building, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The seizure by insurgents from ISIS on Wednesday of 49 Turks, including special forces soldiers, diplomats and children, has prompted criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government for failing to foresee the danger and evacuate the consulate sooner.

The ISIS offensive threatens to dismember Iraq and leaves Turkey facing a widening Islamist insurgency in two of its southern neighbours, with ISIS also making territorial gains in Syria near the Turkish border.

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru said every security precaution had been taken at the consulate but that events unfolded quickly and that Iraqi security forces stationed around the building abandoned their posts as ISIL seized Mosul.

"We gave an order (on Tuesday) to evacuate but our consul general told us that they were safer inside the consulate. He said it was not possible to evacuate under the circumstances," Koru told reporters in Ankara.

Hundreds of insurgents surrounded the building the next day, he said, at which point the consul general called Ankara again.

"The militants were asking them to surrender in 10 minutes and said otherwise they would come in. We contacted our prime minister and foreign minister immediately and the decision (to surrender) was made," Koru said.

Some Turkish commentators have suggested the events could jeopardise Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's chances of replacing Erdogan as prime minister. Davutoglu is seen as a potential candidate for the job if, as expected, Erdogan decides to run for Turkey's presidency in an August election.

17.05

The nutters have arrived. They come on horses armed with machine guns.

We can't verify the video but it was uploaded yesterday and we have been told it is from northern Iraq.

16.58

Iraqi Shi'ite men today shout slogans in support for the call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Iraqi Shi'ite men shout slogans in support for the call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [14 June 2014]

THAIER AL-SUDANI/REUTERS

16.55

16.45

Our Chief Foreign Correspondent Colin Freeman has written a profile on Shakir Wahiyib, AKA "Desert Lion", the enforcer for ISIS.

"He is the only one who kills without covering his face, and is working on declaring an Islamic state," said Colonel Yassin Dwaij, a senior police in Iraq's western Anbar province, where officials put a $50,000 bounty on his head. "He is dangerous and cunning."

having ignored the men's desperate pleas that they are just "trying to earn a living", he forces them to kneel on the ground as a militiaman rakes them with machinegun fire. Comrades, meanwhile, shout "Allah Akbar" in jubilation.

16.05

Gunmen attacked a convoy carrying the head of Iraq's anti-corruption watchdog north of Baghdad on Saturday, sparking clashes that killed nine police, an officer and a doctor said.

The attack on Alaa Jawad's convoy took place on the road between Baghdad and Samarra, and comes as security forces fight to retake areas north of the capital that were seized by militants in a major offensive.

15.56

Here's a photograph from today of traffic from Mosul at a Kurdish check point in Kalak. Our reporter on the ground there Ruth Sherlock says the traffic is already going the other way too as residents return after the threat of US air strikes fades.

Traffic from Mosul queues at a Kurdish check point on 14 June 2014 in Kalak, Iraq

DAN KITWOOD/GETTY

15.46

15.35

Insightful analysis on the Iranian perspective of Iraq by Kasra Naji of BBC Persian:

President Rouhani reassured Iranians that their young men would not be sent to Iraq - not yet, anyway. It is clear that his government is far from keen on putting boots on the ground in Iraq.

But at the same time, Iraq is a neighbour and a pivotal ally. Iran has been working hard in the past 10 years or so to help put in place a pro-Tehran government in Baghdad. Any threat to the status quo will be a serious blow to these efforts.

There are credible reports that the top commander of Iran's Quds Force, General Qassem Suleimani, is in Baghdad, helping to strengthen the defences of the capital and the northern holy city of Samarra, and organise and co-ordinate Iraqi Shia militia groups which are loyal to Iran.

And a source in the Iraqi province of Diyala, neighbouring Iran, has told the BBC that more than 130 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have entered the province with the aim of providing military training and advice. The source - who said the Revolutionary Guards did not plan to get involved in fighting - also said Iran had put two divisions of its forces on alert along the border with Iraq.

President Rouhani said he believed Iraq was capable of defending itself, but added that Iran was willing to co-operate with the US "to combat terrorism". It will not be surprising if there are contacts between the two sides already, in spite of their decades of animosity.

An undated file photograph of Qassem Suleimani, retrieved from the web in 2011

Qassem

Suleimani

(Seyed

Shahaboddin

Vajedi)

15.26

The Iraqi Cairo-based privately-owned pro-Sunni Al-Rafidayn TV carried the following "urgent" news caption: "Salah-al-Din revolutionaries shoot down a helicopter of Al-Maliki's army in Al-Qadisiyah neighbourhood in Tikrit, north of Baghdad."

The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, known as Da'ish, had seized the ken northern Iraqi town of Mosul and several Sunni areas north of Iraq over the past few days amid reports of a likely advancement towards Baghdad. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, which is dominantly Shi'i, has been cracking down on Sunni opposition and was engaged in fighting against Sunni rebel groups over the past period.

15.19

Our correspondent Robert Tait on the half-a-billion-dollar bank robbery ISIS undertook in Mosul this week. The jihadist group is estimated to be the world's most well-financed terrorist group..

With this week's capture of Mosul, the al-Qaeda splinter grouping is believed to have come into undreamed of new wealth after making off with 500 billion dinars - £256 million - from the northern Iraqi city's central bank.

The radical group is also said to have made off with a large amount of gold bullion from the bank, which was left unguarded in the chaos accompanying the militants' takeover of the city, which is one of Iraq's main oil centres.

Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh province, said ISIS members had also seized many more millions from banks across the region.

15.10

These men appear to be Sunnis in Dlyala province. It's not just the Shia against ISIS.

Volunteers from the Iraqi town of Jdaideh in the Dlyala province joined the fight against ISIS

Volunteers from the Iraqi town of Jdaideh in the Dlyala province joined the fight against ISIS (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP)

15.02

Abu Waheeb, ISIS' enforcer, is not much of a shrinking violet when it comes to the press. There’s a video floating around on the web showing him executing truck drivers he suspected of being Shia when they failed to answer correctly how many times a day they should pray. Our Chief Foreign Correspondent Colin Freeman has written a profile on him, which will be op online in an hour.

Currency speculation has helped make the Islamic State the richest terror group in the world

Members of the Islam State of Iraq and Shaam (ISIS) with senior commander Abu Waheeb

15.01

A union of Sunni Muslim clerics has today criticised calls for Iraqi Shiites to fight a jihadist-led militant offensive in northern Iraq, which the body called a "Sunni revolution".

The Doha-based International Union of Muslim Scholars said developments in Iraq were a "result of oppression and exclusion of people that wanted freedom," in reference to the country's minority Sunni Arab community.

The union, which is led by influential cleric Yusef al-Qaradawi, who is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, denounced "sectarian fatwa edicts calling for arms among our Shiite brothers" insisting they would lead to "devastating sectarian war."

"We urge our Shiite brothers in Iraq and elsewhere, and Sunnis, to avoid being the fuel for an awful sectarian war, and call on them to stand by their Sunni brothers to reach a viable solution," it said.

Thousands of Shiite volunteers have reportedly signed up after revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on Iraqis to join the fight against the militants.

14.43

Iraqi Army's Golden Division (SWAT/Special Forces) fighting ISIS in Abnar Province. Published today. Cannot pinpoint date but looks very recent from clothing/weather

Rows upon rows of military vehicles captured in what the label says is in Diala Province. Narrator mocking the Iraqi Army and showing off the booty with something like "4 for a pound"

Videos of ISIS transporting several artillery pieces, what looks like US M-198 Howitzers, captured from Iraqi Army bases in Mosul

14.26

While Iran will work with the US to fight Sunni extremists in Iraq, most in the elite blame America for the chaos next door.

Today Iran's parliament (Majlis) speaker Ali Larijani said the US and its allied authoritarian regimes (implying Saudi Arabia) in the Middle East are behind the Takfiri atrocities in Iraq.

"It is evident that the Americans have committed these acts and the countries around us which do not even have a decent parliament have become concerned about democracy in Iraq and Syria," Larijani said on Friday.

14.24

14.11

Timing of this Iranian report to woo Americans into working with them in Iraq?

Thirty agents linked to the terrorist group al-Qa'idah have been apprehended across Iran over the past month, says the country's deputy intelligence minister.

"The Intelligence Ministry carries out very good and effective measures to counter elements [seeking] to undermine security in the country," Ali Khaze'i added.

He noted that after the 11 September 2011 attacks, the Intelligence Ministry has been constantly involved in issues related to al-Qa'idah terrorists in Iran as the group is making every effort to trigger insecurity in the country.

Khaza'i said terrorist groups have failed to achieve their goals given major efforts made by Iran's Intelligence Ministry.

14.00

A report by Al Arabiya says that the Iraqi government has threatened to close its Baghdad office and ban correspondents of both Al Arabiya and sister news channel, Al Hadath, from reporting in the country.

13.50

The bodies of 12 Iraqi policemen in the recaptured town of Ishaqi in Salah al-Din province near Baghdad have been discovered.

Forces loyal to Prime Minister al-Maliki recaptured the town today and found the charred bodies of 12 policemen in the town, according to a police colonel and a doctor who spoke to AFP.

Ishaqi, around 90 kilometres north-west of Baghdad, was reportedly the closest militia groups had come to the capital since the latest wave of their assault began in Mosul on Monday.

13.46

The Shia leader arrives from Iran to mobilise his Sadrists against the ISIS threat from the north.

...and he does not look happy.

13.20

Britain said Saturday it would provide £3 million of emergency humanitarian assistance to help civilians fleeing the jihadists who have overrun a large chunk of northern Iraq.

The initial support package includes medicine, clean water and sanitation equipment, basic household items and hygiene kits for women.

It also includes "protection for vulnerable girls and women through the deployment of dedicated UN safety and welfare teams" in camps, the Department for International Development said in a statement.

Tweet from this morning on London-Istanbul dialogue on Iraq

13.10

Stongly reccomend for those watching ISIS in Iraq to follow Oxford student Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi on Twitter at @ajaltamimi

12.46

Jon Williams of ABC provides a graphic of the most likely US military response.

12.34

More evidence of the Maliki government appealing to the US for help by evoking Iran's aid to Iraq. While appealing for the US for aid, Hoshyar Zabari, Iraq's foreign minister, told the FT:

[Iran] offered to help in any way we want, even to send forces

12.13

Very interesting New Yorker blog on the alignment of US and Iranian objectives (and rhetoric) concerning Iraq. Dr Mohammed Zarif, Iran's foreign minister was also contacted by telephone for the piece - he denied reports (which first came from the WSJ) that Iran has already dispatched battalions of Revolution Guard Corps to Iraq to protect Maliki government.

Iranian Foreign Secretary Mohammad Javad Zarif

Iranian Foreign Secretary Mohammad Javad Zarif (GETTY IMAGES)

12.00

Sen. John McCain told US TV show Morning Joe on Friday that the Republicans won Iraq but Obama went and lost it.

Top quote: "If we left the residual force behind, we would not be facing the crisis today.”

Thanks Senator, but remember this tweet?

11.44

Martin Chulov reports in the Guardian from Baghdad and gives us pretty specific numbers on Iranian paramilitary (Basiji) movements into Iraq.

Iran has sent 2,000 advance troops to Iraq in the past 48 hours to help tackle a jihadist insurgency, a senior Iraqi official has told the Guardian.

The Iraqi official said 1,500 basiji forces had crossed the border into the town of Khanaqin, in Diyala province, in central Iraq on Friday, while another 500 had entered the Badra Jassan area in Wasat province overnight. The Guardian confirmed on Friday that Major General Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force, had arrived in Baghdad to oversee the defence of the capital.

The 2000 figure does not include the IRGC Qods forces operating in the country nor, of course, the thousands of Iranian proxy forces such as Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haqq and Liwa Abu Fadl al-Abbas, many of which have relocated from Iraq according to this analysis.

Iranian Basiji fighters

Iranian Basiji fighters

(Getty)

11.30

I've just spoken to our correspondent Ruth Sherlock, who is on the ground in Khazir on the Iraq-Kurdish autonomous region's border where many people have fled from nearby Mosul.

Although Mosul is a mixed Sunni/Kurdish town, all of the people Ruth interviewed are Sunni Arabs.

Large numbers of people told her that they fled Mosul as not because of ISIS but because of a fear of US airstrikes on the city.

Although ISIS has is imposing a strict interpretation of Sharia law on the citizens of Mosul, most of Mosul’s citizens are content with ISIS as they see it as a better alternative to what they describe as "Maliki's army", by which they mean the Iraqi national army. Although not all the army and police in Mosul are Shia, the senior commanding officers are because Maliki has filled powerful ranks across the country with his loyalists, which are exclusively Shia.

"ISIS has become a focal point to which may Sunnis can grasp and use to vent their frustration at the Maliki government." Ruth told us.

Ruth spoke to a woman in Khazir who told her: “We have no issue with Sharia law even if women must cover their face.”

However, the picture is not all rosy. Several people in Khazir reported to Ruth that ISIS used the loudspeaker system of a mosque in Mosul to announce that anyone caught smoking, drinking alcohol, wearing tattoos - many of the security services have tattoos - or wearing inappropriate hijab would be taken for punishment, ranging from flogging to amputation.

Ruth also spoke to the family of Mohammed Talal, 23, who told her that their son had been shot in the head at an ISIS checkpoint as the militants learned he had applied to join the Iraqi army.

Families arrive at a checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp on in Kalak, Iraq

Families arrive at a checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp on in Kalak, Iraq (DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES)

11.23

An AP report from Friday parses a video released by ISIS that shows how they are dealing with Maliki's security services.

The video, set to sweetly lilting religious hymns, is chilling. Islamic militants are shown knocking on the door of a Sunni police major in the dead of night in an Iraqi city. When he answers, they blindfold and cuff him. Then they carve off his head with a knife in his own bedroom.

11.09

Maliki told army officers in the city of Samarra that volunteers were arriving to help defeat Islamist militants who have swept through Sunni Muslim territory towards Baghdad.

"Samarra will not be the last line of defence, but a gathering point and launchpad," Maliki said, addressing miliary officers in the city around 60 miles north of the capital on the road to insurgent-controlled Mosul.

"Within the coming hours, all the volunteers will arrive to support the security forces in their war against the gangs of ISIL. This is the beginning of the end of them," he said in comments broadcast on Iraqi television on Saturday after he travelled to Samarra on Friday.

10.38

A bomb attack targeting a weapons bazaar in eastern Syria close to the Iraqi border killed 30 "terrorists" on Saturday, state television reported.

"A big explosion hits a terrorist arms market in Mayadeen, killing 30 terrorists and wounding dozens of others," the television reported.

A rebel official from the town in Deir Ezzor province told AFP the blast killed at least 15 civilians in a street market.

He said a car bomb was detonated by ISIS.

10.35

Maliki, the Iraqi PM, visited Samarra on Friday, the most northern town in Iraq with venerated Shia shrines. Iran is worried that ISIS will take the town and desecrate the shrines, a situation that military figures and parliamentarians in Tehran have described as a “red line” and the basis for them sending IRGC units to Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki waves to people during a visit to the embattled city of Samarra on Friday

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki waves to people during a visit to the embattled city of Samarra on Friday (AFP)

10.29

On Friday Ali al-Sistani, the highest-ranking Shia marja in Iraq and - arguably - the world, yesterday called for Iraqis to rise up against terrorists.

"People who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defence of their country ... should volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal," said Sheikh Abdulmehdi al-Karbalai, delivering Sistani's message.

Here is a picture of one such group of volunteers in Baghdad's Sadr City, the Shia heartland which gave the US troops so much trouble when they were based in the country.

Iraqi Shiite tribal fighters deploy with their weapons while chanting slogans in Sadr City, Iraq

Iraqi Shiite tribal fighters deploy with their weapons while chanting slogans in Sadr City, Iraq (KARIM KADIM/AP)

10.16

It seems that the only answer to the question 'What do Iran, Israel and the US agree on?' is getting rid of ISIS. Amos Yadlin, a retired general and former head of Israeli military intelligence, has said that “everybody has an interest in checking ISIS".

10.11

Iraq sees the possibility of significant aid from Iran as a means of pressuring the United States to come to Iraq’s defence with aid of its own. The remarks by a Maliki aide to the New York Times on Friday made this abundantly clear.

“If you’re in an antique shop there’s a sign, ‘If you broke it, you bought it,'  ” the official, who is an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said. “I am not saying the Americans are responsible for everything, but they did not leave a well-trained army and they left us without any real air support, and the Obama administration really shares much of the blame.”

The Maliki adviser said that the Iraqi government wanted air support and intelligence sharing in particular from the United States. So far, the adviser said, he was not aware of any direct Iranian role in Iraq, nor the presence of any Iranian units on Iraqi territory. “What changes this is if the U.S. does not help, Iran will come in and this is really dangerous,” he said. “If they don’t help I don’t think Iran will let the Iraqi government collapse, they will fight and fight very hard.”

09.58

It is emerging that ISIS is not the only game in town and that the uprising in Iraq may be a wider uprising of the Sunni community against Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, who has pursued a sectarian agenda. Patrick Coburn in the Independent points out that old Baathists group from Saddam's time are involved, ironic since the Bush administration was so keen to link Baathists to Al Qaeda - now it looks like it has happened.

ISIS is not the only Sunni militant group involved in the Sunni insurgents’ multipronged offensive that was carefully co-ordinated. Among those engaged are the Jaish Naqshbandi, led by Saddam Hussein’s former deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former members of the Baath party, the Mukhbarat security services and the Special Republican Guard. It is these groups, rather than Isis, which captured Tikrit.

The reasons why people are joining ISIS itself may not be exclusively to establish a Caliphate in Iraq and Syria but again simply as a reaction against Maliki.

09.45

At a press conference on Saturday in Tehran president Hasan Rohani has said Iran could contemplate cooperating with the United States on restoring security to Iraq if it saw Washington confronting "terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere."

"We all should practically and verbally confront terrorist groups," he told a press conference broadcast live on state television.

Asked if Tehran would work with its old adversary the United States in tackling advances by Sunni insurgents in Iraq, he replied: "We can think about if we see America starts confronting the terrorist groups in Iraq or elsewhere."

Iran stands ready to provide help to Iraq's government in its fight against Sunni insurgents within the framework of international law, Rouhani said, adding that extremists are angry at the result of election in Iraq.

09.35

Good morning and welcome to our live blog on the crisis in Iraq, where troops are battling ISIS militants who have taken control of swathes of the country's north and are currently pushing south towards Baghdad.

Iran is moving to stop the ISIS from capturing the capital and the provinces immediately to the north of Baghdad.

ISIS, which was formely al-Qaeda in Iraq, has a complicated relationship with al-Qaeda itself, made more difficult by its decision to operate in Iraq against al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's wishes.

For more details on this al-Qaeda offshoot and others, from Boko Haram to al-Shabaab, take a look at our interactive graphic.

Where al-Qaeda's influence is growing