American-trained Iraqi forces reportedly fled posts in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and all of the city's critical facilities — including the government complex and the prisons — are now controlled by the insurgents.

"When the battle got tough in the city of Mosul, the troops dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts, making it an easy prey for the terrorists," Iraq's speaker of parliament Osama Nujaifi stated in Baghdad.

Sly emphasized the significance of northern Iraq falling to ISIS.