The Iraqi parliament has failed to hold an emergency session aimed at discussing the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in the country. The session was due to be held on Thursday after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on parliament two days earlier to declare a national state of emergency, saying the nation was on "maximum alert." SIA reports quoting the AA.
Officials from Al-Maliki's Coalition of State of Law bloc said other factions within the parliament had failed to show up for the meeting.
The head of the bloc, Khalid al-Attiyah, said in a press conference: "Clear regional complicity is behind what is going on in Iraq.
"The situation requires all national forces to unify efforts to confront the aggression of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL- and al-Qaeda."
ISIL militants have seized 10 towns in the Salahuddin province of northern Iraq since Tuesday, according to government sources.
Earlier on Thursday, 62 Kurdish lawmakers in the Iraqi Parliament opposed the announcement of a state of emergency.
Mueyyed Tayip, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Alliance, said: "If a public emergency is announced, all authority and power would pass into the hands of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as commander-in-chief of the Iraqi army.
"This situation would pose serious threats to the democratic system in Iraq, we cannot allow this to happen."
ISIL was established shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was most recognizably known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, under the leadership of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri cut ties with the group in February 2014 amid a dispute with another militant group, the Al Nusra Front.
Iraq has seen a marked increase in violence in recent months, which the government blames on ISIL.
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