Kurdistan’s Pishmarga Fighters Ready for War on ISIL in Iraq’s Mosul

Representative of Kurdistan Patriotic Union in Tehran Nazzem Dabbaq announced preparedness of the Kurdish Pishmarga fighters to defend Mosul and free those areas which have reportedly been seized by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists.
“The Pishmarga forces are fully ready for confrontation (with the ISIL) and we are waiting for the Kurdish officials’ order and they, of course, are waiting for the central government’s request for assistance,” Dabbaq told FNA on Tuesday.

Stressing that Iraq’s security forces are still in control of the Eastern parts of Tigris River, he said, “The security forces along with Pishmarga are active and have adopted the necessary measures to protect the Kurds in this part of the country.”

Reports from Mosul in Northern Iraq said today that militants of the ISIL – an Al-Qaeda offshoot – took control of the city.

The clashes between armed extremists and Iraqi security forces in Mosul began on Tuesday morning. The fighting took place near the headquarters of the Armed Forces of Nineveh province and the regional administration.

The extremists managed to occupy the governor’s office after guards had escaped. Then the militants moved to the Southern outskirts of the city, where the military airfield, army base and security forces’ jail are located. Hundreds of prisoners escaped.

Iraqi police and army forces abandoned their posts in the city of Mosul, which shocked the locals, the governor said.