By Ahmed Rasheed and Alexander Dziadosz BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's army sent tanks and armored vehicles to try to dislodge insurgents from the northern city of Tikrit on Sunday, the second day of a pushback against a Sunni militant takeover of large stretches of Iraq. The hardline Sunni group leading the insurgency, until Sunday known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), declared itself a "caliphate" on Sunday and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance - a move analysts saw as a direct challenge to al Qaeda, which disowned ISIL in February, and to Gulf Arab rulers. In Baghdad, which is threatened by the rebel advance, top Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers scrambled to agree cabinet nominations before parliament meets on Tuesday to try to prevent the rebel advance jeopardizing Iraq's future as a unitary state. They are racing against time as ISIL, which loathes Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government, consolidates its grip on the north and west.
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