KALAK, Iraq (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqi men, women and children crammed into vehicles fled their homes Thursday, fearing clashes, kidnapping and rape after Islamic militants seized large swathes of northern Iraq.

The families and fleeing soldiers who arrived at a checkpoint at the northern frontier of this largely autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq were among some half-million people who have fled their homes since Monday, according to a U.N. estimate.

Workers were busily extending the Khazer checkpoint in the frontier area known as Kalak, where displaced women hungrily munched on sandwiches distributed by aid workers and soldiers rushed to process people.

The exodus began after fighters of the al-Qaida breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, seized the northern city of Mosul in a stunning assault Monday. Since then, the militants have moved southward toward the capital, Baghdad, in the biggest crisis to face Iraq in years.

"Masked men came to our house and they threatened us: 'We will get to you.' So we fled," said Abed, a laborer who abandoned his home on the edge of Mosul Thursday. "They kidnapped other people. They took away some people for interrogation."

The young man said rumors were quickly spreading that Islamic State fighters — as well as masked bandits taking advantage of the chaos — were seizing young women for rape or forced marriage.

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Iraqi men chant slogans against the al-Qaida breakaway group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (I …

"They are destroying the honor of families," said Abed, who, like many of the displaced, wouldn't give his full name, fearing the Islamic State fighters.

Many of the displaced said they were on the move because they feared retribution by Iraq's military — underscoring the grave sectarian tensions that have allowed the Islamic State fighters, who are Sunni extremists, to conquer so fast and deeply.

Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, is mostly Sunni, and many residents have long complained of discrimination and mistreatment by the Shiite-dominated central government.

"We were worried the struggle would get bigger, that Maliki's army would shell us," said a middle-aged Sunni woman, referring to the country's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

"Whoever will rule us — let them rule us," said her husband Talal Ahmad, 62. "We just want our children to be safe."

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Iraqi refugees from Mosul arrive at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) no …

Many waiting to be processed at the Khazer checkpoint, set among golden wheat fields, echoed similar concerns. Most hadn't seen fighting but heard occasional gunshots. They saw other people fleeing and so joined the exodus.

Many said they panicked after hearing Iraqi army soldiers had abandoned their posts, sure it meant that heavy shelling to drive out the insurgents would follow.

"We left after we saw everybody else leaving," said Abir, a 33-year-old teacher who fled with her husband and three children.

The chaos of the fighting, just some 60 miles away, was evident in Kalak.

Kurdish forces, which act as a de-facto military in the largely autonomous region, took possession of at least a dozen Iraqi military vehicles abandoned by soldiers as they fled their posts ahead of the advancing Islamic State fighters.

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Iraqi refugees from Mosul at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of …

The Kurdish soldiers could be seen driving the dirty yellow Humvees, with the national flag emblazoned on them, toward the regional capital, Irbil.

One fleeing Iraqi soldier said he was ordered by his officer to abandon his post, even before Islamic State fighters reached the area.

"We didn't even raise our weapons. This isn't even unimaginable — it's madness," said 38-year-old Shaker Karam. "We didn't even see a terrorist."

At the checkpoint, Kurdish workers erected shelters in anticipation of the arrival of more displaced Iraqis.

Four men measured out an area amid a whipping dust and rain storm to protect the long lines of Iraqis from the sweltering heat. Beside them lay a large pile of water bottles to distribute. Just hours before, they set up a row of public toilets and erected a tent for exhausted women to rest in privacy.

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Iraqi refugees from Mosul at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of …

Those who reached the Khazer checkpoint were among the lucky ones.

The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said thousands of displaced, particularly children, were sheltering in schools, hospitals and mosques outside Mosul, many of them without adequate water, sanitation, or shelter. The Red Cross said it had already distributed food and relief to 8,000 people near Mosul.

Many fled with little more than the clothing on their backs and, arriving without money said they would have to rely on donations.

Abed's extended family, including his elderly mother and young nieces, said they didn't know where they would sleep Thursday night.

Talal Ahmad's family of 12 was sleeping in the back of a pickup truck that was lined with thin mattresses.

Abir, the teacher, said her middle-class family had enough money for a hotel for a month.

"But we hope to be back before then," she said anxiously.

Members of the Iraqi security forces pose as they guard volunteers who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants, who have taken over Mosul and other Northern provinces, travelling in army trucks, in Baghdad, June 12, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Sunni Islamist militants gained more ground in Iraq overnight, moving into two towns in the eastern province of Diyala, while U.S. President Barack Obama considered military strikes to halt their advance towards the capital Baghdad.

After security forces abandoned their posts, security sources said the towns of Saadiyah and Jalawla had fallen to the insurgents, along with several villages around the Himreen mountains, which have long been a hideout for militants.

Militants from the Islamic State in 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 other areas outside the formal boundary of their enclave.

Kurdish peshmerga forces also deployed men to secure their political party offices in Jalawla before the insurgents arrived in the town. There were no confrontations between them.

The Iraqi army fired artillery at Saadiya and Jalawla from the nearby town of Muqdadiya, sending dozens of families fleeing towards Khaniqin near the Iranian border, security sources said.

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Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stand guard at a checkpoint in the north …

On Thursday Obama threatened U.S. military strikes against the Sunni Islamist militants who want to establish their own state in Iraq and Syria.

"I don’t rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria," Obama said at the White House when asked whether he was contemplating air strikes. Officials later stressed that ground troops would not be sent in.

Obama was looking at "all options" to help Iraq's leaders, who took full control when the U.S. occupation ended in 2011.

"In our consultations with the Iraqis, there will be some short-term immediate things that need to be done militarily," he said.

Obama also referred to long-standing U.S. complaints that Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had failed to do enough to heal a sectarian rift that has left many in the big Sunni minority, shut out of power when U.S. troops overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, nursing grievances and keen for revenge.

"This should be also a wakeup call for the Iraqi government. There has to be a political component to this," Obama said.

(Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Nick Macfie and Will Waterman)

Insurgents capture two more towns in Iraq

Islamist militants gain more ground, seizing control of two towns in the eastern province of Diyala.
Security forces abandon their posts

Progressive banker now Islamic monarch in Nigeria

Traditional ruler Lamido Sanusi takes part in a prayer meeting Wednesday, June 11, 2014, at Kano State Government house in Kano, Nigeria. Lamido Sanusi was appointed on Sunday, June 8, 2014, as the new emir of Kano, replacing Emir Ado Bayero who died at age 83. (AP Photo/Sani Maikatanga)

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — An outspoken former central bank governor who advocates education and economic opportunities for Nigeria's majority poor has become a key religious and traditional leader of the country's Muslims, a counterpoint to Islamic extremists who aim to destroy the Western system of education and who have slaughtered and kidnapped students.

Lamido Sanusi was appointed on Sunday as the new emir of Kano, replacing Emir Ado Bayero who died at age 83 and who had survived an assassination attempt by the Islamic militants in January 2013. On Tuesday, the white-robed Sanusi received royal swords and traditional insignia in a palace to mark his ascendancy, according to a local media report.

Boko Haram, the Islamic insurgent group, sees northern traditional religious leaders as false Muslims who don't fully implement Islamic law. For their part, the traditional monarchs have declared Boko Haram's violent activities as being non-Islamic.

As a central bank governor, Sanusi spoke out against corruption and for gender equality, girls' education and women's access to finance. He criticized Nigeria's high illiteracy rate and lack of opportunity, particularly in the Muslim north which is much less developed than the south, where the commercial center of Lagos lays.

But Boko Haram, which gained worldwide notoriety when it kidnapped hundreds of school girls on April 15, says Western influences and education have created corruption that enriches a few while most people in this oil-rich nation remain impoverished, and says the only solution is to follow its strict form of Islamic law. Few pupils and teachers are willing to attend school amid attacks by Boko Haram on schools in its home turf in Nigeria's northeast, said Obong Obong, the secretary general of the Nigeria Union of Teachers.

While the 52-year-old Sanusi won't be able to make government policy, as the second-most influential traditional and Islamic monarch in northern Nigeria he will influence Muslims, who comprise roughly half of Nigeria's population of more than 170 million and who mostly live in the north. The Sultan of Sokoto is seen as the top spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims. Christians largely populate the southern, and more prosperous, half of Africa's most populous country.

Sanusi "is very interested in girls' education and I'm sure he's going to try to bring his influence to promote girl child education and equality of women in general," said Jibrin Ibrahim, a fellow at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.

It will be a difficult task. Even before Boko Haram started its attacks five years ago, education levels were already low in the north, with 60 percent of northern women being illiterate compared with 29 percent in the south, according to the national statistics bureau.

In a July 2012 speech as central bank governor, Sanusi lamented traditions that stand in the way of women's equality.

"Women face peculiar exclusion as a result of cultural, religious and social biases that hinder their access to financial services," Sanusi said in the speech, according to the central bank's website. "It will be pertinent to explore the possibility of enacting laws that address gender inequality, sexual harassment and discrimination."

The current Nigerian constitution doesn't specify the role of traditional monarchs, whose legal powers and independence ebbed under British colonial rule and eroded further during military rule after Nigeria became independent in 1960. Still, they gain "influence from history, influence from tradition where people are loyal to them. They get influence from their connection to the governor and politicians," said Toyin Falola, a Nigerian who has written several history books on Nigeria and Africa and who teaches at the University of Texas.

Sanusi has a history of outspokenness. As an emir, he's expected to remain outspoken on social and religious issues. He may also subtly use his influence to sway public opinion before the general elections in February next year though he will avoid being linked to any political group, said Falola.

As central bank governor, he was a staunchly anti-corruption and fired eight executive officers of banks within four months of assuming his post in June 2009 for reckless lending. He pushed for more women to hold management positions in banking and for small-business loans to be earmarked for women.

But after Sanusi began providing evidence to a parliamentary committee on billions of dollars that he said the state oil company failed to remit to government coffers, President Goodluck Jonathan suspended him in February on accusations of "financial recklessness," keeping him out of office till his term ended on June 2.

In Nigeria's February 2015 elections, Sanusi — who isn't a declared member of any political party — will probably even subtly influence how people vote in Kano, Nigeria's second-biggest city, and surrounding areas, said Falola.

The former POW will continue his reintegration process following nearly five years spent in captivity.
Checks into medical center