European stocks slipped in early trade on Monday, adding to last week's retreat as mounting crisis in Iraq prompted investors to further book profits on recent lofty equity market gains, Reuters reported. At 0705 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,386.54 points, further retreating from a 6-1/2 year high hit last week. On Sunday, insurgents in Iraq seized Tal Afar, a mainly ethnic Turkmen city in northwestern Iraq after heavy fighting, solidifying their grip on the north after a lightning offensive that threatens to dismember the country. Shares in Swiss biotech group Actelion Ltd bucked the trend, surging 14.9 percent after the firm said its experimental heart and lung drug Selexipag met its primary goal in a late-stage study, giving it a potential second big seller to replenish its product pipeline.