Sunni insurgents make Iraq gains as army flees Mosul

Iraqi security forces in the north patrol an area near Kirkuk.

They fire their weapons as plumes of smoke from burning cars billow in the distance.

They've been fighting Sunni insurgents from an Al Qaeda splinter group called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

The militants took control on Tuesday of nearby Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city.

On Wednesday, their control of the city extended further south, where the country's biggest oil refinery lies.

Video posted online that Reuters can't verify purports to show large fires burning in the refinery town of Baiji.

This is said to be inside a local police station, now abandoned.

Wednesday's advance by ISIL is a devastating show of strength against the Shiite-led government.

In his weekly address, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the fall of Mosul a conspiracy designed by outside forces, but refused to elaborate.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MAL