Iraqi city of Mosul falls to ISIS jihadists.

Iraqi city of Mosul falls to ISIS jihadists.(BBC).

Iraq's prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency, after Islamist militants effectively took control of Mosul.

Nouri Maliki acknowledged "vital areas" of the northern city had been seized.

Overnight, hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns seized the Nineveh provincial government's offices in Mosul.

They also destroyed several police stations before overrunning the airport and army's operations headquarters.

Elsewhere, a double bomb attack in the central town of Baqouba killed at least 20 people, police and medics said. The blasts, targeting a funeral procession in the capital of Diyala province, also wounded 28 people.

In the past week, the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and its allies have carried out major attacks on cities and towns in western and northern Iraq, killing scores of people.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says militants from ISIS have been informally controlling much of Nineveh province for months, imposing tolls of the movement of goods and demanding protection money from local officials.

After five days of fighting, they took control of key installations in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city with an estimated population of 1.8 million.

On Monday, Nineveh Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi made a televised plea to the city's residents, calling on them to "stand firm in their areas and to defend them against the strangers".

But Mr Nujaifi fled shortly before the provincial government's headquarters fell to the onslaught late on Monday night.

On Tuesday, several residents told the Associated Press that black flags associated with jihadist groups were flying from buildings and that the militants had announced over loudspeaker that they had "come to liberate Mosul and would fight only those who attack them".

"The situation is chaotic inside the city and there is nobody to help us," said Umm Karam, a government employee. "We are afraid."Read the full story here.

Hmmmm.....Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!

Update: Unconfirmed report that ISID captured 28 Turkish truck drivers in Mosul.