In Iraq, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, ISIL have captured yet another city, Tikrit in the north of Baghdad and seized control of an oil field in Baiji.

They have seized the Turkish consulate in Mosul and held diplomatic staff including the Turkish Consul General hostage. The Iraqi Government has said that it will not give into to the jihadist elements and will strike back.

According to reports, the Iraqi Government has asked US support to carry our airstrikes on the ISIL. United Nations, Arab league and European Union have rallied behind the Iraqi Government and urged the political leadership to stand united in its fight against terrorism.

Our West Asia correspondent reports that Tikrit is the hometown of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the third city to fall to the ISIL after the entire Nineveh province including Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq was overrun by jihadist militants on Monday.

Black flags of the jihadist group swarm the areas under seige as they put on display the arms and ammunition seized from Iraqi forces who abandoned their posts after the fight. According to reports, militants have killed a large number of people.

A mass exodus has begun from areas controlled by the jihadists and those displaced have taken shelter in other Iraqi cities and Kurdistan. The fall of Tikrit after Mosul, parts of Ramadi and Fallujah has set alarm bells ringing in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the West Asia region.

Analysts say the militant outfit led by Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is trying to expand its control over large swathes of Iraq and Syria.