Fleeing ISIS: Iraqis Tell Of Loss And Tragedy

By Sherine Tadros, Middle East Correspondent

Dozens of Iraqi families who escaped the fighting in Mosul have made their way to a newly-built refugee camp in the northern area of Dohuk.

They are homeless and have nowhere to go.

"Ahmed" was an officer in the Iraqi police force. We've had to change his name because he's afraid he will be targeted again by ISIS militants.

He had just got to the camp with his family when we met him.

He showed us pictures he says he took of his home after ISIS bombed it.

What was once a seven-bedroom villa is now a pile of rubble.

Ahmed took his nine-month pregnant wife and children and came to the Dohuk camp.

It took them 12 hours and now they say they are afraid and on the run.

"People were so scared in Mosul when I left," said Ahmed.

"There was no electricity, no food and we heard explosions. The Islamist fighters were everywhere in the town.

"They wore black masks and were armed. You couldn't speak or reason with them or they'd just kill you."

These are considered the lucky ones as they have a roof over their heads

Many more people are pouring into the camp, bringing with them stories of loss and tragedy.

Hundreds of thousands have recently fled the areas now under the control of ISIS and their allies.

Some are in camps, but even more went further into towns close to the border.

The town of Al Qosh near the Syrian border with Iraq has taken in hundreds in the past week.

This ancient Christian community is now opening its doors to Iraqis of different religions. It is providing a safe haven for those seeking protection.

We came across a school that has been turned into a shelter for 30 families who came from Mosul.

Mattresses line the floors, there are flies everywhere.

Umm Younis says she came here with her children because she heard it was safe. It's been a week now and it's been tough.

"Life is unbearable. There's no water, no medicine, no clean place. It's crowded and cramped. If anyone catches a disease then everyone gets it," she told us.

One of the hardest things for these people is that they don't know when or even if they'll be able to go back home.

All the women in the school share one bathroom and the water only comes on every other day.

One of the biggest problems is food, there are only two cookers here to service over 140 people.

And these are considered the lucky ones because they have a roof over their heads and a garden for the children to play.

But in another few weeks this school will re-open and the little they have will be taken away.

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Iraq: US Troops Deployed To Protect Embassy

The US is deploying armed troops to Iraq to safeguard American personnel in Baghdad as the government struggles to deal with Islamist insurgents.

President Barack Obama informed Congress on Monday that up to 275 troops could be sent to Iraq to provide security for US personnel and the US Embassy.

Some 170 of the soldiers have already arrived in the Iraqi capital, with the remainder on standby in case they are needed, a US official said.

As the US and arch-enemy Iran discussed the crisis on the sidelines of nuclear talks, it was reported that the commander of Tehran's elite Quds Force, General Ghasem Soleimani, was in Iraq on Monday to discuss how to halt the insurgents' gains.

Images showing ISIS insurgents killing Iraqi soldiers have sparked outrage

British Foreign Secretary William Hague is due to outline the UK's relationship with Iran when he appears in the House of Commons later.

While the US and Iran have ruled out military co-operation, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the two nations have a shared interest in ensuring militants do not have a "foothold any more in Iraq".

Mr Obama has vowed to keep US forces out of combat in Iraq, but acknowledged the troops in Baghdad are equipped for direct fighting.

The White House is also considering sending special forces to train and advise Iraqi troops.

One official said up to 100 special forces soldiers could be sent.

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton said last week that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki must be presented with a set of conditions before any military support was agreed.

She said: "That's a delicate and difficult task for our government because we certainly don't want to fight their fight.

Security in Baghdad has been stepped up

"Because you'd be fighting for a dysfunctional, unrepresentative, authoritarian government and there's no reason on earth that I know of that we would ever sacrifice a single American life for that."

Mr al Maliki has vowed to recapture territory lost to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has seized towns in Iraq after a week of fighting and vowed to attack Baghdad.

The insurgents captured Tal Afar after a dawn raid, along with the al Adhim area in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

Security forces patrol near the borders between Karbala and Anbar provinces

Footage also emerged which appeared to show ISIS insurgents questioning and killing unarmed Iraqi soldiers.

An Iraqi army helicopter was also shot down near the city of Fallujah.

But Iraq's army has stalled its advance in Samarra despite the graphic images showing Shia soldiers being killed in cold blood.

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Gunmen 'Kill Ten' In Second Kenya Attack

Islamist gunmen have killed ten people in a night-time raid on Kenya's coast just 24 hours after an attack left at least 50 dead, police have said.

Somalia-based militant group Al Shebaab claimed responsibility claiming they killed as many as 20 people.

Police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi said the militants attacked Majembeni village in Lamu County.

The area is close to Mpeketoni, on the coast between Mombasa and the Somali border, where the extremists murdered dozens of people in a raid on Sunday night.

It is thought that the two attacks were carried out by the same group.

Majembeni and Mpeketoni are in Lamu County, Kenya, close to Somalia

Al Shabaab military operations spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab threatened the onslaught would continue and said: "We raided villages around Mpeketoni again last night. Our operations in Kenya will continue."

The official government figure for the number killed in Sunday nights attack was 48, but Sky sources in the area counted 50 bodies.

A group of gunmen entered Mpeketoni on minibuses and started "shooting people around in town", a spokesman for the interior ministry said.

People watching a World Cup game were among those targeted and three hotels, a bank and a petrol station were also hit.

Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked group which carried out an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi last year, said the first attack was a revenge for attacks inside Somalia by Kenyan forces. Foreign tourists were warned to stay out of Kenya.

Lamu had previously been popular with foreign visitors but tourism has been suffering in recent years because of increasing violence.

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Palestinian Speaker Held Over Missing Israelis

The speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council has been arrested as part of the hunt for three missing Israeli teenagers.

The detention of Hamas member Aziz Dweik was among 40 arrests overnight in connection with the disappearance of 16-year-olds Naftali Frenkel, and Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, 19.

One man was reportedly killed when the Israeli army opened fire after unrest broke out during an operation to find the youngsters outside the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Witnesses said Palestinians began throwing rocks at the soldiers as they conducted house-to-house searches in the al Jalazon refugee camp before dawn.

A 20-year-old Palestinian was shot dead and another wounded, hospital officials said.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) admitted in a statement that it had taken 150 people in custody since what it described as the "abduction".

(L-R) Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach

It said "Hamas leadership and operatives" were among those who had been detained overnight on Sunday.

The three teenagers reportedly went missing while hitch-hiking on Thursday.

All are students at a Yeshiva, or religious school, in Gush Etzion, a Jewish settlement bloc just south of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner of the IDF said: "IDF efforts are focused on enabling operational capabilities, enhancing intelligence and influencing those that participated, are involved or have knowledge of the whereabouts of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrah.

"We are determined to bring them home and bring the perpetrators of their abduction to justice".

Israel has blamed Hamas for what it suspects are kidnappings and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday threatened "serious consequences" if they were not found safe.

The US has also pointed the finger at Hamas over the disappearance of the group. One of the three youngsters, Naftali Frenkel, is a US passport holder.

Hamas, an Islamist group which runs the government in Gaza, agreed to form a unity government earlier this month with US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Kenya Islamists 'Kill 48' As Hotels Set On Fire

Suspected Islamist insurgents in Kenya have raided a police station and set on fire at least three hotels and a petrol station, reportedly killing at least 34 people.

The group of gunmen entered the western coastal town of Mpeketoni and started "shooting people around in town", the interior ministry said.

The assault began at around 8pm on Sunday, with gunshots reported up to four hours later.

Cafes and bars were reported to have been busy with people watching the World Cup on television.

The gunmen entered the town in three vehicles. Pic: Dihoff Mukotu/eNCA

District deputy commissioner Benson Maisori said: "There were around 50 attackers, heavily armed in three vehicles, and they were flying the Shabaab flag.

"They were shouting in Somali and shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest)."

Area police chief Hamaton Mwaliko said: "Attackers hijacked a van from Witu town which they used for the attacks. They raided Mpeketoni police station first and opened fire."

The Red Cross said 48 people had been killed.

A police station was among the buildings attacked. Pic: Dihoff Mukotu/eNCA

Kenyan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the "assailants (were) likely to be al Shabaab", Somalia's al Qaeda-linked insurgents.

However, no group has claimed responsibility.

Kenya has seen a drop in tourists in recent months following a string of gun and grenade attacks blamed on al Shabaab, Somalia's al Qaeda-linked insurgents, or its sympathisers.

Mpeketoni lies on the mainland some 20 miles (30km) southwest of Lamu island, a popular tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage site.

Nairobi's Gikomba Market was the scene of a deadly bomb attack in May

Al Shabaab, which has fought a bloody seven-year campaign to impose its interpretation of Islamic law inside Somalia, has said it wants to take revenge for Kenya's deployment of troops in the Horn of Africa nation.

In May, explosions in Nairobi and Mombasa followed a decision by Britain, the US, France and Australia to issue warnings about travel to the east African country.

At least 400 tourists cut short their holidays and left hotels along the Indian Ocean coast.

Kenya called the alerts "unfriendly", saying they would increase panic and play into the hands of those behind the gun and grenade assaults.

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US Condemns 'Bloodlust' Of Iraq Militants

The US has condemned the massacre of hundreds of Iraqi soldiers by Islamic militants after graphic pictures of their deaths were posted online.

Tweets associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed the insurgents had killed 1,700 Shia soldiers.

The images showed the Sunni insurgents loading captives on to flatbed trucks, forcing them to lie face-down in a ditch with their arms tied behind their backs before they were shot dead.

Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the US State Department, said: "The claim by ISIS that it has massacred 1,700 Iraqi Shia air force recruits in Tikrit is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that these terrorists represent.

"While we cannot confirm these reports, one of the primary goals of ISIL is to set fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people."

Militants have posted images purportedly showing the massacre of soldiers

Chief Iraqi military spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassim al Moussawi, confirmed the authenticity of the pictures and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured soldiers in areas held by ISIS.

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has vowed to recapture territory seized by the insurgents last week. 

But in the latest fighting, residents of the northern town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, said ISIS had taken control after a dawn raid.

Iraqi security forces have claimed to have killed 279 "terrorists" in the last 24 hours.

Mr Maliki said: "We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point."

Security in Baghdad has been tightened after the militants said they would march south to the capital.

However, Ms Psaki said the US would evacuate some of its staff and boost security at its embassy - located in Baghdad's Green Zone - due to the "ongoing instability".

Three explosions in the capital have left at least 15 people dead and dozens injured.

Peshmerga soldiers on patrol in northern Iraq

The US is reportedly preparing to stage direct talks with Iran, set to begin next week, over the situation in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The White House, while declining to comment on the report, did not deny it.

Aircraft carrier the USS George HW Bush has arrived in the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers possible military action against ISIS.

The US has "airlift assets" ready to evacuate people if they are requested, the Pentagon confirmed.

ISIS insurgents have been attacking the city of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, using rockets seized from military arms depots.

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