Iraq crisis: UN evacuates staff from Baghdad

, June 17: As tensions rose due to the advance of Sunni insurgents, the UN said it had evacuated nearly 60 staff members from Baghdad to neighbouring Jordan, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.

"Underscoring the menace posed by the fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the United Nations said it had moved nearly 60 staffers from Baghdad to neighbouring Jordan with the intention of relocating them to northern Iraq," the report said.

The US had said on Sunday that some staff members of the US embassy in Baghdad would be temporarily moved to the US consulates general in other Iraqi cities of Basra and Erbil, or to Jordan's capital city of Amman.

The US embassy in Baghdad is the largest embassy in the world and employs around 5,000 people.

IANS