As fighting rages on across Iraq, the outflow of refugees from conflict stricken areas continues to grow. Just 170 km north of Baghdad people have been fleeing in droves to the relative safety of Tuz Khurmato.

Sunni militants under the banner of ISIL have been making significant gains all week. Now they have reportedly seized the strategically important town of Qaim, bordering Syria.

The unrest has also caused uproar at the pump, with mass petrol shortages in Kurdish controlled land fuelling concerns about an influx of refugees

Ameen, a taxi driver remarked:
“We’ve been standing in the queue since yesterday. We’ve been here for two or three days, but cars with number plates from Nineveh are coming and taking fuel from here because they’ve got an agreement with the station owner, so it’s corrupt”.

A military parade held by Shia militia’s in a Baghdad suburb has further stoked fears of heightening sectarian violence
The thousands, massed in combat fatigues, were called to arms by a prominent cleric known for leading the so called Mehdi army – a group that fought the US in Iraq for years.