dpa/Baghdad
Suspected jihadist fighters Thursday seized control of six districts in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, eyewitnesses said.
The heavily armed fighters entered the city from several directions, using bulldozers to destroy a number of security force checkpoints, the witnesses told dpa.
They were flying the black flag bearing the Islamic declaration of faith, which is used by al-Qaeda and by its ultra-hardline Iraqi offshoot, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
At least 25 Iraqi soldiers and 20 civilians were injured by gunfire, according to initial estimates. Local people reported hearing ongoing firefights.
