"Mosul now is like hell", thousands are fleeing fallen city

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Thu, 12 Jun 2014 07:00 AM

Author: REUTERS

An al Qaeda splinter group has seized control of the Iraqi city of Mosul, putting security forces to flight in a spectacular show of strength against the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government.

Thousands of families were fleeing north from Mosul, one of the great historic cities of the Middle East, towards the nearby Kurdistan region, where Iraq's ethnic Kurds have autonomy and their own large and disciplined military force, the Peshmerga.

Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, June 10, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer
A family fleeing violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul waits at a checkpoint in outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, June 10, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer
Families fleeing violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul arrive at a checkpoint in outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, June 10, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer
A woman carries a child as families fleeing violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul wait at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, June 10, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer
A woman fleeing violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul arrives at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, June 10, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer