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Militants Overrun Iraq's Second-Largest City as Government Forces Flee
by white

    BAGHDAD—Islamist insurgents seized control of Iraq's second-largest city on Tuesday in a brazen military operation that underscored the weakness of the central government across vast swaths of the country.

    Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide "state of maximum preparedness" after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting. He asked parliament to declare a state of emergency. But he didn't say whether military forces were mobilizing to retake the city, 220 miles north of the capital, Baghdad.