Baghdad have piled pressure on Iraq’s Kurds , demanding they cancel their overwhelming vote for independence while parliament urged the Iraqi central government to send troops to take control of vital oil fields held by Kurdish forces.

A US Navy Seal who was advising Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq has been killed by Islamic State (IS) militants, US defence officials say.

The Kurdish militant group TAK says it carried out Sunday's deadly attack in the Turkish capital, Ankara in revenge for 'military operations in the mainly Kurdish south-east'.

Kayla Mueller, who was killed in February while held hostage by Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, was sexually abused by the group's top leader.

An unexpected victory by the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish elections; in fact, the HDP leadership itself seems somewhat taken aback by this surprising turn of events.

Several hundred Yazidi captives are killed in Iraq by Islamic State (IS) militants west of Mosul, Yazidi and Iraqi officials say. A statement from the Yazidi Progress Party said 300 captives were killed on Friday in Tal Afar near the city.