Timeline: Islamic jihadists advance towards Baghdad, seize Mosul

Baghdad: A snapshot of developments in Iraq, where Sunni militants are marching on Baghdad after seizing several provinces.

Friday, June 13

• Militants battle pro-government forces near Muqdadiyah, just 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Baghdad's city limits. The government announces a new security plan for the capital.
• Leading Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urges Iraqis to take up arms against the militants marching on Baghdad.
• Maliki says security forces have begun clearing cities of "terrorists". Residents of Samarra, just 110 kilometres (70 miles) from Baghdad, say gunmen are gathering to its north, east and southeast.
• US President Barack Obama says he is examining options short of sending ground troops, but warns that Iraq must heal its own divisions.
• UN human rights chief Navi Pillay cites reports of extrajudicial killings and summary executions.
• The International Organisation for Migration estimates that 40,000 people have fled Tikrit and Samarra, adding to half a million people believed to have fled Mosul.

Thursday, June 12

• Militants seize two strategic areas of Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, after security forces withdraw.
• Kurdish forces take control of the disputed oil hub of Kirkuk to protect it against jihadists. Iraqi Kurds want to incorporate Kirkuk province into their autonomous region, a move Baghdad strongly opposes.
• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promises Iraq's Maliki his government's full support against "terrorism".

Wednesday, June 11

• The militants seize the city of Tikrit, Salaheddin's provincial capital. Security forces repel an assault on the highly sensitive city of Samarra, witnesses say.
• ISIL storms the Turkish consulate in Mosul and kidnaps 49 people including the head of the mission, after earlier seizing 31 Turkish truck drivers from a power station.
• ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani promises that the battle will "rage" on Baghdad and Karbala to its southwest, considered one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims.

Tuesday, June 10

• Hundreds of jihadists, mostly from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), seize Iraq's second biggest city Mosul in a lightning offensive and take control of Nineveh province. They also overrun sections of the nearby provinces of Kirkuk and Salaheddin.
• The swift collapse of Baghdad's control comes after the loss of Fallujah, west of the capital, earlier this year.
• Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says the government will provide weapons and equipment to citizens who volunteer to fight against militants and that the cabinet has created a special crisis cell.
• Washington says the jihadists pose "a threat to the entire region".