Timeline: Iraq Crisis

Iraq is in the midst of a crisis engulfing the entire country, with militants aiming to capture the capital Baghdad and government forces launching wave after wave of counter-offensives to win back lost territory.

Almost three weeks on since the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of towns and cities in the country's north, here is a timeline of key events so far:

10 June

• Armed Sunni groups, including fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), seize Iraq’s second biggest city Mosul and swathes of Nineveh province, along with parts of nearby Kirkuk and Salaheddin provinces. Many members of the Iraqi security forces shed their uniforms and flee.

11 June

• The insurgents seize Tikrit, Salaheddin's provincial capital.
• ISIL storms the Turkish consulate in Mosul, kidnaps the head of the mission and 48 others, after seizing 31 Turkish truck drivers.
• ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani promises the battle will "rage" on Baghdad.

12 June

• Kurdish forces take over Kirkuk to protect the oil hub from militants, which the Iraqi Kurds want to make part of their autonomous region.
• Iran vows to combat the "violence and terrorism" of armed Sunni groups in Iraq.

13 June 

• Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urges Iraqis to take up arms against the militants, who are reportedly heading to Baghdad at the time along three routes.
• US President Barack Obama says US will not send troops to Iraq and his team will need several more days to formulate a strategy.

15 June

• Militants take control of the Al-Adhim area, in eastern Diyala province.

17 June

• Militants are repelled by security forces after briefly controlling three areas of Baquba, the capital of Diyala, 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Baghdad.

19 June

• Government forces regain full control of Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji after 24 hours of heavy fighting with militants.
• US President Barack Obama says Washington is prepared to send up to 300 military advisers to study how to train and equip Iraqi forces.

20 June

• Sistani says Sunni militants must be expelled quickly from Iraq and that the next government must be "effective" and avoid "past mistakes", in an apparent rebuke to Shiite Nuri al-Maliki, premier since 2006.

21-22 June

• Insurgents take control of three new towns in the western desert province of Anbar: Al-Qaim, the eponymous border crossing with Syria, Rawa and Ana.
• Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani calls on Maliki to resign, saying “problems will continue to build” if he remains in office.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns the US against working with Iran on the Iraq crisis, describing them as “radical Shiites” and urging the Americans to “weaken” both ISIL and the Iranians.
• Obama warns the ISIL takeover in Iraq could “spill over into some of our allies like Jordan”.

23 June

• In Baghdad, US Secretary of State John Kerry pledges "intense" support for Iraq against the "existential threat" of the militant offensive.
• Insurgents also overrun the strategic Shiite-majority northern town of Tal Afar and its airport.
• ISIL briefly take the al-Waleed crossing with Syria but Iraqi government forces later retake the border in a government counter-offensive.
• Maliki's security spokesman says "hundreds" of soldiers have been killed since the insurgents launched their offensive on 9 June.

24 June

• Militants take control of Iraq’s primary oil refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad, after 10 days of fierce battles with government forces.
• Later, government air strikes kill at least 32 people in Baiji, as government officials deny the oil refinery had been won by Sunni militants.
• The UN announces more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in fighting in Iraq throughout June, saying the number should be viewed as “very much a minimum”.

25 June

• Reports emerge of fighters from al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front pledging allegiance to ISIL at the Syrian town of Albu Kamal, causing surprise as the two groups have been battling each other inside Syria.
• Kerry says ISIL is a worldwide threat and urges Maliki to form ‘salvation’ government incorporating all ethnic and religious groups, which the Iraqi premier then rejects as a “coup” against the constitution.
• An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson warns Kurdish leaders from seeking independence and pursuing the “division of Iraq”.

26 June

• Maliki welcomes airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq by Syrian government forces, admitting there was no coordination over the attacks but that the “final winners” would be both countries.
• Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who fought against US troops during their nine-year war in Iraq, vows to “shake the ground” under the feet of advancing Sunni militants and voices opposition to American military advisors meeting with Iraqi commanders.
• Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman offers help to “moderate” Arab states who are fighting “extremists”, in a reference to the ISIL advance in Iraq.
• Government forces launch an offensive on a university in Tikrit and carry out officials airstrikes in an effort to reclaim the city from militant control.

27 June

• Human Rights Watch says ISIL has killed at least 160 people during fighting in the city of Tikrit and says it provides “strong evidence of war crimes” being carried out by the Sunni militant group.
• Amnesty International says evidence is emerging of Iraqi security forces carrying out “reprisal killings” of 50 Sunni detainees in retaliation for the militant take over, describing the extrajudicial “executions” as evidence of “war crimes”.
• Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani says there is “no going back” on autonomous Kurdish rule in the oil city of Kirkuk and other towns now captured by Kurdish fighters.
• US officials reveal drones are circling Baghdad as a precaution to “protect Americans in the capital” and say they will not be used to launch attacks on ISIL militants.

29 June

• Iraq says it has received the first batch of warplanes from Russia, which will be used to bolster the country’s air power as they continue a fight back against ISIL.
• ISIL announce the establishment of a “caliphate” with its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as emir, saying the is now to be known only as the “Islamic State”.