Extremists Beaten Back After Iraq Airstrikes

Islamist extremists have been forced out of two towns in northern Iraq by Kurdish troops - amid a deepening political crisis in the country.

The militants were driven out of Makhmour and al Gweir, near Irbil, after fighters were aided by a series of US airstrikes targeting armed vehicles.

Kurdish forces have been bolstered further after senior US officials said the Obama administration has begun directly providing them with weapons to defend themselves against attacks by Islamic State (previously known as ISIS).

US soldiers watch as halal meals are parachuted to the ground in Iraq

But closer to Baghdad, the Sunni militants captured Jalawla, a town 70 miles (115km) northeast of the Iraqi capital, after weeks of clashes with Kurdish fighters. 

As the violence continued, embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki appeared on TV  to accuse the new president of violating the constitution.

In a surprise speech, Mr al Maliki resisted calls to resign amid the jihadist insurgency and declared he will file a legal complaint against Fuad Masum.

He accuses him of failing to name a prime minister from the country's largest parliamentary faction by Sunday's deadline.

Speaking in Australia, US Secretary of State John Kerry backed President Masum and warned Mr al Maliki not to obstruct efforts to form a new government.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is chairing a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee, after a No 10 source told Sky News there were "no plans" to recall parliament to discuss the crisis.

Yazidi refugees approach the food bundles on the ground

The political turmoil comes amid mounting evidence of the slaughter of minority Christians and Yazidis by Islamic extremists.

Photographs taken in the north of the country appear to show crucifixions and beheadings, as well as a series of executions by gunfire.

Iraq's human rights minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani said accounts from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar suggested hundreds had been slaughtered.

"Some of the victims, including women and children, were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar," he said.

The Australian newspaper also featured a photograph purporting to show the nine-year-old son of terrorist Khaled Sharrouf carrying the head of a Syrian soldier.

The picture was apparently posted on Twitter by Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist from Sydney.

Refugees flee the extremists carving a bloody path through northern Iraq

As the world watched the images from Iraq in horror, a Downing Street source told Sky News David Cameron has no plans for a recall of parliament - despite calls for MPs to discuss the crisis.

"Our focus is humanitarian support," the source said.

"The key priority is getting support to people in desperate need."

Tory backbencher Conor Burns said the Government's response so far, of ruling out military intervention and air dropping supplies, was "not strong enough".

David Cameron has been urged to recall Parliament

"These people are being beheaded by people from IS, and our only response is to drop some food or water on them," the Bournemouth West MP said.

The former head of the army, Lord Dannatt, also backed a parliamentary recall, insisting Britain was "watching in horror" as atrocities were committed.

"In the face of a crisis of this scale, with the potential for so much human misery, this is not the moment for decision-makers to be on holiday," he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

Yesterday, Downing Street announced that more UK advisers were being sent to the under-threat city of Irbil to help deal with the developing crisis.

The US has been carrying out airstrikes to protect the area, which is a Kurdish stronghold and major centre for the country's oil trade.

Overnight, US military planes conducted a fourth air drop of food and water for civilians besieged by jihadists on Mount Sinjar.

A C-17 and three C-130 cargo aircraft dropped 88 bundles of supplies that will provide "food and water for thousands of Iraqi citizens".

The militants have driven as many as 150,000 Yazidis from their homes into the Sinjar mountains, where they are cut off from food and water.

The jihadists have also kidnapped 300 women as slaves.

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