Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are within 100 kilometers of Baghdad, having taken control of several towns and cities in northern Iraq in recent days. Iraqi army units have abandoned their posts and fled ahead of the militants’ advance.
But speaking Thursday, Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, insisted that ISIL forces had been halted north of the capital.
‘The situation started to be reversed and the Iraqi security forces have managed to re-organize and to push them back,’ said Zebari.
ISIL grew out of al-Qaida in Iraq. Their stated aim is to create a single Sunni Islamic state across the region…”