Al Qaeda splinter group gains more ground in Iraq

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http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-militants-20140612-story.html#page=1



Teenagers ride on an armored vehicle of the Iraqi military in Tikrit.

Al Qaeda splinter group gains more ground in Iraq
Nabih Bulos, Carol J. Williams
June 11, 2014

A resurgent Al Qaeda splinter group consolidated gains in one of Iraq's largest cities Wednesday and pushed deeper into the heart of the country, threatening to create an extremist "proto-state" in the Middle East, something that U.S. forces fought for eight years to prevent.

The militants rolled past the major northern city of Mosul and into Tikrit, the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown, also seizing oil fields in Salahuddin province. In Mosul, gunmen looted the central bank of $420 million and took 48 employees of the Turkish Consulate hostage, including the mission chief.

Gains by the heavily armed fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, sent an estimated 500,000 people fleeing east. By late Tuesday, their armored vehicles had rolled into Baiji, halfway to Baghdad, seizing control of the country's largest oil refinery after granting "safe passage" to Iraqi security forces in exchange for their weapons.

Retreating Iraqi troops left behind American Humvees and helicopters, which were seized by the invaders, according to images the militants posted on social media.