UN meets, Iraq militants advance

Members of the Security Council were being briefed behind closed doors on Thursday by the UN's special representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, via videoconference from Baghdad.

Russia, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council, blamed inadequate restructuring in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. Moscow's envoy to the council, Vitaly Churkin, described the situation as "extremely dramatic" but added that he didn't know what members could do.

Separately, US President Barack Obama sad his national security teams were looking at all options to push back the Islamists. However, he did not specify what form the help might take. "Iraq is going to need more help from the United States and from the international community," Obama said. "Our national security team is looking at all the options... I don't rule out anything." However, the White House later said that it was not contemplating sending ground troops.

Rapid advance towards Baghdad

On Thursday, the insurgents, largely Sunni Muslims, said they were advancing into the ethnically diverse province of Diyala - capturing the town of Dhuluiyah, just 90 kilometers (60 miles) from Baghdad. A spokesman for the militants, who call themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Abu Mohammed al-Adnani vowed the group would press on to the capital.

The Shiite-led government in Baghdad has been completely outflanked by the jihadist onslaught, which has declared Shariah law in swathes of the north, including Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. Some 500,000 people were reported to have fled amid fighting in and around the city, which was taken on Tuesday.

Iraqi forces were reported to have launched air strikes on jihadist positions in and around the cities of Mosul and Tikrit. Several positions appeared to have been bombed in and around Mosul, footage on state television showed. Further south near the city of Tikrit, the AFP news agency reported that at least four air strikes were carried out on militants occupying a palace that once belonged to late dictator Saddam Hussein.

Other fighters seize opportunity

Senior intelligence sources told the AP news agency that members of Hussein's regime - including a force led by the late leader's former deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri - were fighting alongside ISIS.

Government troops are also reported to have melted away in the face of an attack by autonomous Kurdistan's peshmerga fighters, who seized the disputed oil city of Kirkuk.

The German Foreign Ministry said Germans should leave the governorates of Anbar, Ninevah and Salah al-Din - which have been either partially or completely overrun - because of the possibility of armed clashes.

In a statement late on Thursday, it also urged citizens to leave Baghdad temporarily.

The ministry went on to describe the situation in the provinces of Diyala and Kirkuk as "extremely alarming."

rc/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)