The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis) has declared the areas it occupies in Iraq and Syria as a new Islamic state.

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.

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.

Saudi Arabia has warned against Western or regional intervention in Iraq, as the country's ambassador to London joined international calls for a new government to be established in Baghdad.

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.

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.

Iraq's war of sectarian vengeance has its first pictures of record: images that show Sunni extremist fighters massacring army soldiers.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was criticised over a claim that the current generation of political leaders is to blame for the violence engulfing 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.