Thousands of volunteers join Iraqi army to fight ISIL

Thousands of volunteers have signed up at recruitment centers across Iraq over the past few days as armed forces try to push back al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Political figures, clerics and tribal leaders are among those joining the fight against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

In Baghdad, people have gathered at the Federal Police Command headquarters, chanting religious and patriotic slogans. They say their mobilization is in response to calls by the country’s top religious figures.

Arshad al-Salehi, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, has also called on Iraqi Turkmen to take up arms against the militants.

Around 1.5 million Iraqis have volunteered to join battles against the al-Qaeda-linked militants. The volunteers are people from all ages and include retired officers.

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.

Meanwhile, several witness accounts and video clips have been released showing the grisly crimes perpetrated by the Takfiri terrorists against innocent civilians in the crisis-torn country.

Recently, a similar gruesome video was released, purportedly showing members of the ISIL Takfiri group brutally killing Shia Muslims in drive-by shootings in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling the seizure of Mosul and some other towns by militants a “conspiracy.”

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