Iraqi forces repels attacks by Barbaric ISIL terrorists

Iraqi armed forces have repelled an attack by Takfiri terrorists on the central city of Baquba while the militants seize parts of Kirkuk.

Iraqi security forces say they repelled two separate assaults by Takfiri militants.

According to Iraqi military sources, militants from the terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), tried to attack and take control of Baquba in Diyala Province overnight, but were pushed back.

At least 44 people, mostly senior ISIL members, died when the group failed in its attempt to release them from a prison, west of Baquba. At least 9 other militants were killed in separate clashes with Iraqi police in the same city.

Similarly, the ISIL militants were beaten back from the village of Basheer in the south of Kirkuk.

Iraqi officials also say the militants are in control of some parts of the strategic town of Tal Afar in Nineveh Province.

Iraqi lawmakers say 1200 additional troops have been deployed to Tal Afar to fight the militants there.

They say dozens of people have been killed in the latest round of fighting there.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin says the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously supports the Iraqi government’s fight against terrorism.

Churkin, who holds the rotating presidency of the UNSC for the month of June, said the terrorism issue is serious in Iraq and requires a united response from the international community.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also strongly condemned the acts carried out by the militants, calling on the international community to support the Iraqi government’s fight against Takfiris.

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to several Iraqi cities, including the capital, Baghdad.

However, 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.

Al-Maliki has repeatedly said that Riyadh, Doha and some other Persian Gulf Arab states are supporting the militancy in Iraq.