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Iraqi parliament fails to hold emergency session

12 June 2014 23:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Iraqi parliament has failed to hold an emergency session aimed at discussing the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in the country, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

The session was due to be held on Thursday after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on parliament two days earlier to declare a national state of emergency, saying the nation was on "maximum alert".

Officials from Al-Maliki's Coalition of State of Law bloc said other factions within the parliament had failed to show up for the meeting.

The head of the bloc, Khalid al-Attiyah, said in a press conference: "Clear regional complicity is behind what is going on in Iraq.

"The situation requires all national forces to unify efforts to confront the aggression of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL- and al-Qaeda."

ISIL militants have seized 10 towns in the Salahuddin province of northern Iraq since Tuesday, according to government sources.