Security forces have been tightening their grip on the main Iraqi cities under threat from ISIL but not controlled by the Sunni militants.<br /><br />The northern city of Kirkuk is now in the hands of Kurdish fighters following the collapse of the Iraqi army.<br /><br />Joint patrols were established as emergency police units were deployed across the ethnically-mixed city on Thursday.<br /><br />“Security forces and (Kurdish) Peshmerga forces have control over Kirkuk, and the situation is very good,” said one driver who experienced the patrols. <br /><br />More than two million Iraqis are said to have responded to a call by the country’s most influential Shi’ite cleric to take up arms against the insurgency.<br /><br />They have been brought to Baghdad from all over Iraq for a one-week training course before being sent to cities controlled by the militants.<br /><br />“I came in response to a call by the highest religious authority represented by Sayyid Ali al-Sistani to fight the militants,” said Sattar Jabbar, a volunteer.<br /><br />State-run Iraqi TV has broadcast material aimed at stirring public opinion in favour of the struggle against the insurgents, including patriotic, military and religious music.<br /><br />Some viewers said songs they described as “nationalistic and jingoistic” reminded them of the Saddam Hussein era during the 1980s war with Iran.
