Iraq crisis: ISIS parade captured Iraqi military vehicles in Mosul

A group from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams stage a parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from a collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since its fighters drove out of the desert and overran the northern metropolis.

The black-clad and masked Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) fighters waved the black flag of the Islamic State and flashing the "V" sign with some shouts "Towards Baghdad".

Witnesses saw ISIS fly two helicopters over the parade, apparently the first time the militant group has obtained aircraft in years of waging insurgency on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier.

It was unclear who the pilots were, but Sunnis who served in the forces of Saddam Hussein have rallied to the insurgency.

Since Tuesday, black-clad ISIS fighters who do not recognise the region's modern frontiers have seized Mosul and Tikrit, Saddam's home town, and other towns and cities north of Baghdad.

The army has evaporated in the face of the onslaught, abandoning bases and US-provided weapons.

Security was stepped up in Baghdad to prevent the Sunni militants from reaching the capital, which is itself divided into Sunni and Shi'ite neighbourhoods and saw ferocious sectarian street fighting in 2006-2007 under US occupation.



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