Iraqi forces, aided by tribal residents, have regained control over oil-rich Baiji, the northern province of Kirkuk, from militants belonging to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

Iraqi forces, aided by tribal residents, have regained control over oil-rich Baiji, the northern province of Kirkuk, from militants belonging to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Baiji is the site of a major oil refinery in Iraq’s Salaheddin Province which is Iraq's biggest, supplying oil products to most of the country's provinces.

Meanwhile, ISIL stormed the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday and kidnapped 48 people including the head of the diplomatic mission, a Turkish government official said.

"48 Turks including the consul, staff members, guards and three children were abducted," the official said.

Turkey pledged Wednesday to retaliate if dozens of its citizens seized in an attack by Islamist militants in northern Iraq are harmed.

Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had kidnapped 49 of its citizens at the Mosul consulate and taken them to another part of the city.

The violence in Iraq’s neighboring Nineveh province has forced over half a million Iraqis to flee their homes.

“The ISIL’s capture of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, displaced over 500,000 people in and around the city,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday, adding that the violence “has resulted in a high number of casualties among civilians.”

Heavy fighting is underway in the regions where the terrorists have established their control, and Iraqi forces along with residents continue to resist the ISIL militants and plan a counter-attack.

PM Nouri Al-Maliki has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency and urged the UN, European Union, and Arab League to help the country fight the terrorists.

Maliki made the call for a nationwide state of emergency in a televised news conference in which he said "Iraq is undergoing a difficult stage" and that insurgents had captured "vital areas in Mosul". He urged the public and government to unite "to confront this vicious attack, which will spare no Iraqi."

Maliki stressed, "We will not let the terrorists control the province of Nineveh."