Following the militant takeover of Iraq's second-largest city earlier this week, hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee Mosul to escape from the extreme violence, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported.

As many as 500,000 people have fled the Iraqi metropolis as jihadists take over the city and much of the surrounding Nineveh province.

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The militants are from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a group of Sunni Muslims currently waging a sectarian war on the Iraqi - Syrian border and an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

The extremist group now controls considerable territory in eastern Syria and western Iraq and is pushing forward the goal of setting up a military enclave which will straddle both sides of the border.

Around 1,300 ISIL militants stormed government buildings, TV stations, and banks in Mosul and also freed an estimated 2,4000 prisoners from jails located in the northern part of the Nineveh province, reports stated.

The takeover threatens not only the stability of the nation, but also creates issues in an area which is one of Iraq's main export routes for oil.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki requested that Parliament declare a state of emergency and give him extraordinary powers to tackle the crisis.

The US, who pulled all troops out of Iraq over two years ago, pledged help and told the Iraqi government that it would help Iraqi leaders "push back against this aggression."

Residents and eyewitnesses stated that, upon arriving in the city of 2 million people, jihadists began announcing over loudspeakers that they had "come to liberate" the city.

It is unclear what concrete steps the Iraqi government will take towards driving the militants out.

A journalist for Reuters reported seeing the bodies of police and military littering the streets of Mosul and one officer told the media that beating the insurgents was impossible because the militants are "like ghosts: they appear, strike and disappear in seconds."

Tagsmilitant, take over, Iraq