On Friday, Iraqi officials said that people were rushing to recruitment centers to sign up for the fight against the Takfiri militants.

The volunteers consist of people from all ages and include retired officers.

The development came after senior religious and political leaders called on the Iraqi nation to take up arms and defend their country against militants.

On June 10, the militants took control of Nineveh province, including its provincial capital Mosul, in a lightning advance, forcing “over 500,000 people in and around the city” to flee, according to Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The militants have vowed to continue their raid towards the capital Baghdad.

Also on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed concerns over summary executions and extrajudicial killings by the so-called ISIL, adding that hundreds were probably killed and thousands injured by the violence.

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The warship along with a battle group of ships are “in the region and ready for tasking,” Pentagon spokesperson Rear Adm John Kirby said on Friday.

Iraqi armed forces have had fierce clashes with the militants over the past few days. The terrorists have threatened to do terrorist acts in other Iraqi cities too, including the capital Baghdad.

Takfiri groups, including the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), are reportedly coming to Iraq from neighboring Syria and Saudi Arabia to undermine security in the country.

Kirby also pointed to the presence of over 30,000 military personnel in the Middle East in order to defend against any possible aggression and terrorist acts.

“I also think it’s important to remember that we have some 35,000 US military personnel in the Middle East region,” Kirby said. “Our forces there work closely each and every day with our partners to defend against external aggression and terrorist networks that threaten America and its allies.”

He went on to say that US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has talked with senior military officials over options President Barack Obama has to consider for the escalating crisis in Iraq.

“Over the last 36 hours, the (Hagel) has met a number of times with senior military leaders to discuss events on the ground and to prepare options for the president’s consideration,” Kirby said.

The options “cover a wide range of military capabilities and will be designed… to help break the momentum of ISIL’s progress and bolster Iraqi security forces,” he added.

In March, the Pentagon dispatched 100 Hellfire missiles to Iraq, in addition to 200 more which had been sent previously, as well as millions of rounds of small-arms fire, tank ammunition and helicopter-fired rockets.

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Dar al-Ifta Spokesman Ibrahim Negm announced the fatwa on Friday, saying the ISIL’s terrorist activities in
Syria and Iraq “serve the enemies of Islam.”

The Sunni cleric also condemned the extremist group for committing crimes in Muslim nations in the name of religion. Negm said the ISIL has adopted the wrong interpretation of Islam.

Dar al-Ifta is Egypt’s official Islamic body that issues religious edicts.

ISIL, an al-Qaeda offshoot group that has been wreaking havoc in Syria, recently captured a number of cities in northern and north-central Iraq.

On Friday, top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a religious decree calling on people to take up arms and defend their country against the Takfiri militants.

Iraqi men from all walks of life are flocking to recruitment centers to join the army in its fight against the ISIL extremists.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also said authorities will arm citizens in Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces to fight the militants. Maliki has blamed Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing Riyadh as a major supporter of global terrorism.

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to other Iraqi cities, including the capital, Baghdad.

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“It is evident that the Americans have committed these acts and the countries around us which do not even have a decent parliament have become concerned about democracy in Iraq and Syria,” Larijani said at a Friday conference in Tehran.

“This shows that the issue of terrorism has become a propaganda tool for the big powers,” he added.

Larijani warned that the Takfiri groups which have targeted the Islamic world “have tarnished the image of Muslims.”

Iraqi armed forces are engaged in heavy clashes with Takfiri militants advancing on the city of Baquba, located north of the capital, Baghdad.

The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Takfiri terrorist group has captured two provincial capitals this week, namely Tikrit in the Salahuddin Province, and Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in the northern province of Nineveh.

The Iraqi army is currently battling the terrorists on the outskirts of the city of Muqdadiyah, situated northeast of Baquba, in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala.

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the extremist terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to other Iraqi cities, including the capital. Hundreds of Iraqi volunteers have rushed to army recruitment centers to join the fight against terrorism.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on June 10 that his country was involved in a “war against terrorism,” stressing that Baghdad “will never permit Mosul and Nineveh to remain under the shadow of terror and the terrorists.”

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