This comes as Iraqi security forces continue to fight the militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by launching counter-offensives in the city of al-Muqdadiyah.

The Iraqi army has driven the al-Qaeda-linked militants from the towns of Diyalah, the province’s police chief said.

The commander also added that Iraqi army troops are gaining more grounds in several towns of nearby Salahuddin Province.

This is while thousands of Iraqi Shiites have heeded a call from their most revered spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to take up arms against militants who have captured large areas of territory north of Baghdad.

Shiite volunteers queued at the Federal Police Command headquarters in Baghdad on Thursday clutching enrolment papers in a bid to join Iraq's military in the fight against the al-Qaida-inspired ISIL.

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to several Iraqi cities, including the capital, Baghdad.

NJF/NJF