DHAKA: Militants have taken control of parts of Mosul, officials say, on a fifth day of fighting in the northern Iraqi city.

Overnight, hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and machine-guns seized the provincial government’s headquarters.

They also destroyed several police stations before moving towards the top-security prison and military airport.

On Tuesday morning, one interior ministry official said Mosul was ‘outside the control of the state’, reports the BBC.

In the past week, the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and its allies have carried out major attacks on cities and towns in western and northern Iraq, killing scores of people.

Parts of Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar, and much of the nearby city of Falluja have been under their control since late December, with the security forces unable to dislodge them.

BDST: 1503 HRS, JUNE 10, 2014