Al-Qaida-inspired militants today seized effective control of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, expanding their offensive closer to the Iraqi capital as soldiers and security forces abandoned their posts following clashes with the insurgents.
Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took control a day earlier of much of Mosul, the country's second-largest city, in a major blow to the authority of the country's Shiite government and a sign of Iraq's reversals since US forces withdrew in late 2011.
The Sunni militants also gained entry to the Turkish consulate in Mosul and held captive 48 people, including diplomats, police, consulate employees and three children, according to an official in the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
An estimated half a million residents fled the economically important city.
Tikrit residents reached by telephone said the militant group had taken over several police stations in the Sunni-dominated city.
They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety.
As night fell, several hundred gunmen were in Tikrit, with clashes still taking place between the insurgents and military units on its outskirts, said Mizhar Fleih, the deputy head of the municipal council of nearby Samarra.
Two Iraqi security officials confirmed that Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin province, was under the control of the ISIL, and said the provincial governor was missing.
Tikrit is 130 kilometres north of Baghdad.
The major oil refinery in Beiji, located between Mosul and Tikrit, remained in government control, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to talk to reporters.
Turkish officials trying to free the captives at the consulate in Mosul have been in direct contact with the militants as well as Iraqi officials and believe that the hostages are safe, said an official in Erdogan's office.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because of he was not authorised to comment to reporters on the sensitive issue.
Security officials in the Turkish consulate in Mosul had allowed the militants in after being threatened with explosives, the official said.
Turkish officials trying to free the captives have been in direct contact with the militants as well as Iraqi officials and believe that the hostages are safe, he added.
