In pictures: Iraqis flee Mosul

A family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul waits at a checkpoint near Irbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, 10 June 2014

As many as 500,000 people are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul after Islamist extremists effectively took control of it.

An elderly man is assisted at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Erbil on 10 June 2014.

Residents of all ages have left their homes, with many seeking refuge in the neighbouring region of Kurdistan

Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a checkpoint about 40km west of Erbil, on 10 June 2014

It comes after hundreds of armed men seized government and police buildings in Mosul - Iraq's second biggest city - and freed thousands of prisoners.

Civilian children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, 10 June 2014

Residents said jihadist flags were being flown from buildings and police stations set on fire.

A picture taken with a mobile phone shows an armoured vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces in flames on 10 June 2014, after hundreds of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) launched a major assault on the security forces in Mosul

Fighters from the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have reportedly taken control of the surrounding province of Nineveh and other areas in nearby Kirkuk.

Families fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul wait at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Erbil, on 10 June 2014.

Fleeing families took what they could, with many leaving on foot. The authorities in the Kurdish region have set up temporary camps for them.

Iraqis fleeing violence in the Nineveh province wait in their vehicles at checkpoint west of Erbil, on 10 June 2014.

Dozens of cars and trucks stretched out from this checkpoint on the boundary of the Erbil region.

Iraqi men queue at a Kurdish checkpoint west of Erbil, on 10 June 2014

Residents queuing at the checkpoints in northern Iraq said they were forced to leave Mosul after soldiers and police deserted their posts and fled.

Iraqi families are given water as they gather at a checkpoint near Erbil, the autonomous Kurdistan region, on 10 June 2014.

Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has asked the UN refugee agency for help providing for the thousands displaced by the fighting.

Iraqi families fleeing violence in the northern Nineveh province gather at a Kurdish checkpoint west of Erbil, on 10 June 2014

In the past week, ISIS and its allies have attacked cities and towns in western and northern Iraq, killing many.

Iraqi policemen man a checkpoint in the capital Baghdad on 10 June 2014, after a state of emergency was declared by the government

The government has declared a state of emergency and placed security forces in a state of "maximum alert".

An Iraqi Kurdish security guard frisks a man as he waits at a checkpoint

The Iraqi government is struggling with a surge in sectarian violence that killed almost 800 people in May alone, according to the UN.