Smoke billows up, trailing thick and black across the sky. Flames flicker from inside a scorched Peshmerga base.

This winter was not a good one for farmers in the Fertile Crescent.

Iraq has bought used fighter jets from Russia and Belarus to battle Islamist militants after delays by the US to deliver planes.

An ancient temple that featured in the film 'The Exorcist' has fallen into the hands of jihadists who have taken over northern Iraq.

United States Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Baghdad last night on a surprise trip to push for Iraqi unity and stability, as Sunni militants advanced in west Iraq after security forces retreated.

Islamists leading the jihadist advance in Iraq are using the World Cup to seek recruits and spread their propaganda via social media, according to reports.

In a short amount of time it's overtaken al-Qaida as the most powerful and effective extreme jihadi group in the world. So who is behind Isis?

Isis says its men have been ordered not to bother local people if they are Sunni, but in many places they are imposing their puritanical social norms in the towns they have captured.

The United States should launch targeted military attacks against an emerging "terrorist army" in Iraq if the security of the West is jeopardised, the former head of coalition forces in the country said yesterday.

Heavy fighting was continuing around Iraq's main oil refinery in the city of Baiji, 400km north of Baghdad, where Islamists first tried to gain control last week.

The US has told senior Iraqi officials that their Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, must leave office if it is to intervene militarily to stop the advance of Sunni extremists.

It was once the emblem of United States military success in Iraq - the city where American forces defeated their adversaries twice.

The CIA and other spy agencies are scrambling to close intelligence gaps as they seek to support possible military or covert action against ISIS.

The Sunni revolt led by Isis shock troops is getting ever closer to Baghdad, amid fears the capital itself might soon be engulfed by the violence.

Escalating violence in Iraq threatens to unleash an oil price spike that would put an end to the greatest period of price stability for nearly half a century, BP's chief economist has warned.

Iraq is breaking up, with Shia and ethnic minorities fleeing massacres as a general Sunni revolt, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) sweeps through northern Iraq.

New Zealand is not likely to be part of a military intervention in Iraq, according to Prime Minister John Key.

Tony Blair said Britain needed to take action in Iraq and Syria to stop a 'total disaster' that could see jihadist fighters returning to strike in their own country.

The success of ISIS militants nor the swiftness of their advance through Iraq shouldn't come as a big surprise - the seeds were sown as soon as Saddam was toppled.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that the country is ready to assist Iraq in its battle against extremist Sunni Islamists.

Escalating violence in Iraq has spooked world sharemarkets and pushed up oil to its highest price in nine months.

Islamic militants have captured Iraq's northern capital, Mosul, in a devastating defeat for the Iraqi Government, whose forces fled the city, discarding weapons and uniforms.

Children in Iraq could be legally married before the age of nine under legislation tabled this week that introduces new religious restrictions on women's rights.

China carries out more executions than any other country, a new report has estimated.