The BBC reports that around 150,000 people have fled the city, which has a population of around 1.8 million, including around 1,000 Christian families seeking safer areas. ISIS has taken advantage of the political vacuum left by the recent election, which has left Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki struggling to assemble a government. ISIS wants to overthrow the governments of Iraq and Syria and establish a Sunni caliphate in the Middle East. For months they have been in unofficial control of Nineveh - the province where Mosul is located. The Iraqi parliament has declared a state of emergency in the country and the Prime Minister is calling on the population to volunteer to join the army and defend the country. He also asked international organizations to support Iraq in keeping the peace and neighboring countries to protect the borders and not allow "terrorists" to enter Iraq.
Last Friday, June 6, around 6000 ISIS fighters entered Mosul. They killed many people, including 21 policemen. The local security forces fled from the attackers. According to sources in Mosul, army and police personnel took off their uniforms so they could not be identified.
ISIS is now in control of Mosul airport and has taken their weapons and some helicopters. Armed people are said to be looting and stealing from schools and banks. They have burned down several buildings and destroyed others.
Local media reports that militias have taken 70 female students hostage at Mosul University and 28 Turkish truck drivers in the city. It is reported that around 3000 prisoners have been released from the main prisons.
A resident of Mosul says: "No water, no electricity or food in the houses now" and "It's dangerous to go out because snipers are shooting randomly around the city".
Several sources from predominantly Christian areas have confirmed that militias have also entered their villages. A local Christian says that ISIS extremists have also entered the Mar Behnam monastery.
Around 200 families, many of them Christians, are now being housed at the Mar Mattai monastery and it is believed that around 50 families per hour are arriving in Al Qosh, 45km from Mosul, where there is another monastery. Others have fled as far away as Dohuk, 80 km from Mosul. Several schools in mainly Christian villages have also opened their doors. The new arrivals are in desperate need of blankets and mattresses as they have only brought a bag with some clothes. Some say they have had to leave their cars at a checkpoint and walk for hours to reach safety. "If this keeps up, Mosul will be emptied of Christians," says a source in Iraq. "This could be the last exodus of Christians from Mosul."
Source: World Watch Monitor