Via AFP:
Militants seized the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday but security forces thwarted an assault on Samarra, as a lightning jihadist offensive launched in second city Mosul swept closer to Baghdad.
Since the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began its spectacular assault in Mosul late on Monday, militants have captured a large swathe of northern and north-central Iraq, prompting as many as half a million people to flee their homes.
The speed with which ISIL and its allies have advanced after their seizure on Tuesday of Mosul -- a city of two million people -- has sent alarm bells ring...