BREAKING: Iraq’s Tal Afar not fallen to ISIL terrorists

Iraqi security sources have rejected some media reports saying that the strategic town of Tal Afar has fallen to Takfiri militants.

This comes after conflicting reports emerged about who controls the Iraqi town of Tal Afar in the northern Nineveh Province.

Iraqi security sources have categorically denied reports that the town has fallen to militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The strategic town sits on a main highway linking Nineveh Province to Syria.

According to Iraqi officials, Tal Afar’s residents and tribes have asked Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to send them reinforcements to repel militant attacks.

Some media outlets reported that ISIL militants took Tal Afar on Sunday morning. They said many of the 200,000 residents, who are mostly Shia Turkmen, have fled the town.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Interior Ministry has announced the deaths of at least 56 terrorists in different parts of Baghdad over the past 24 hours.

Militants have taken control of Mosul, located some 400 kilometers northwest of the capital and have vowed to continue their raid toward Baghdad, but their advance has been slowed down as Iraqi military forces and volunteer fighters have begun engaging them on several fronts, in some cases even pushing the militants out of the areas they had earlier overrun.

Premier al-Maliki has blamed Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.