(VOVworld) – Tal Afar is the latest city in northern Iraq to have been seized by a jihadist group called “the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) after an exchange of shell-fire on Sunday, killing 10 people and causing many others to flee from their homes.

ISIL insurgents seize Tal Afar. (Photo: Reuters)

2 other cities, Mosul and Tikrit, have also been occupied.

The Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Monday announced that Canberra has begun evacuating embassy staff from Iraq and warned Australian citizens living there to leave. The US has reallocated its embassy staff in Baghdad to consulates in safer provinces.