ISIL militants capture city of Tikrit in Iraq

Iraqi security officials say militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized control of the central Iraqi city of Tikrit.

Local police said on Wednesday that the al-Qaeda-linked militants also seized a military camp south of Tikrit.

“…Tikrit is in the hands of the militants,” a police colonel said of the seizure, with a police brigadier general confirming that the militants raided from the north, west and south of the city.

Meanwhile, a police major said the militants emancipated some 300 inmates held in a prison in the city.

Tikrit is located roughly half way between Baghdad and Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul.

On Tuesday, the militants captured the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province.

The ISIL has claimed that they control the northern province of Nineveh.

Latest reports also said the militant group executed a number of Iraqi soldiers captured during fighting in the city.

Iraqi forces are continuing their battle against the ISIL in parts of Nineveh, having managed to push the militants back in some areas.

Takfiri groups, including the ISIL, are reportedly coming to Iraq from neighboring Syria and Saudi Arabia to undermine security in the country.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri 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.