![Members of the Kurdish security forces take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk Members of the Kurdish security forces take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk June 12, 2014. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the northern city of Mosul earlier this week and have since pressed south towards Baghdad in an onslaught against the Shi'ite-led government. The Kurds, who run their own autonomous region in the north, have taken advantage of the chaos to expand their territory, taking control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3TK82.jpg/RTR3TK82.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=RBnyuz_i)
![Members of the Kurdish security forces take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk Members of the Kurdish security forces take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk June 12, 2014. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the northern city of Mosul earlier this week and have since pressed south towards Baghdad in an onslaught against the Shi'ite-led government. The Kurds, who run their own autonomous region in the north, have taken advantage of the chaos to expand their territory, taking control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3TK82.jpg/RTR3TK82.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=RBnyuz_i)
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![Members of the Kurdish security forces take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk Members of the Kurdish security forces take part in an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Kirkuk June 12, 2014. Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) overran the northern city of Mosul earlier this week and have since pressed south towards Baghdad in an onslaught against the Shi'ite-led government. The Kurds, who run their own autonomous region in the north, have taken advantage of the chaos to expand their territory, taking control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3TK82.jpg/RTR3TK82.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=RBnyuz_i)
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