BAGHDAD
Outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday said Iraq had been placed on "maximum alert" after militants seized control of Mosul, the country's second-largest city, urging parliament to declare a state of emergency and promising to arm civilians willing to fight alongside the government.
"Iraq is passing through a difficult phase," al-Maliki said in a televised address, flanked by members of his cabinet following an emergency meeting.
He said the "grave security situation" in Mosul required swift action, including asking parliament to declare a state of emergency and general mobilization.
"We hope the Council of Representatives [Iraq's parliament] will meet and endorse our request to declare a state of emergency," said al-Maliki.
The prime minister praised the readiness of "honorable" Iraqi citizens to fight the militant group alongside the government.
"The cabinet hails the willingness of local citizens and tribesmen to volunteer and take up arms to defend their nation and defeat the terrorists," he said.
"The authorities should support this readiness and take the necessary steps to put it into action," al-Maliki added.
A security source told Anadolu Agency early Tuesday that militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) had captured Mosul.
Security forces had withdrawn from their positions as the ISIL assumed control of the city, provincial capital of Iraq's Nineveh province, the source said.
Another security source confirmed to AA that the militants had taken control of Mosul airport as they swept through the northern half of the city.
"They seized the Nineveh Operations Command headquarters in the Al-Tayaran district in the south and the Police Directorate building in the central Al-Dawasa district," the source said.
Several local television channels transmitting from Mosul went off air after the militants entered the city.
ISIL militants stormed three prisons in the city and freed their entire prisoner populations, an Iraqi security official said Tuesday.
One of the prisons had contained several ISIL leaders who had been previously captured across Iraq, according to a security source.
Since Friday, Mosul has been the scene of fierce fighting between security forces and ISIL militants in which scores have been killed.
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