Militants from an al-Qaeda splinter group stormed the Turkish consulate in Mosul, Iraq’s second city, on Wednesday and took 49 people hostage. The jihadi group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as Isis), expanded its offensive just 24 hours after taking control of Mosul. The militants pushed south and appeared to have taken over Tikrit, the home town of Iraq’s executed former leader Saddam Hussein. A Turkish official confirmed that the hostages in Mosul included the country’s consul, diplomats, special forces and three children. The official said the hostages had been moved to the jihadis’ headquarters in the city. Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, urged his country’s divided political leaders to unite to face what he called a “serious, mortal” threat. Isis’s seizure of Mosul on Tuesday and its continuing offensive underline how Iraq has again been driven to the brink of civil war by political […]