ABU DHABI, June 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) organization have seized the Iraqi town of Baiji in the north of the Salah-a-din province (located around 200km to the north-west of Baghdad). Iraq’s Interior Ministry said the extremists had destroyed several government buildings and surrounded a local oil refinery.

The police said the militants put on fire the Interior Ministry’s facilities and the city court and seized army weapons caches. Security forces continue to defend the refinery. Security services say the extremists are gradually approaching oil-rich Iraqi Kurdistan.

Heavy fighting is underway in the regions where the terrorists have established their control, and Iraqi law enforcers continue to resist the ISIS forces and plan a counter-attack. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has announced a universal mobilization and urged the parliament to introduce emergency rule.