A power struggle for control of Iraq's government is raging in Baghdad, as Kurdish forces aided by US airstrikes battle Islamist extremists in the north of the country.
Iraq's main Shia coalition has nominated a candidate to replace Nouri al Maliki as prime minister, but the move could stoke political tensions amid efforts to build a united front against the militants.
The National Alliance chose deputy parliament speaker Haider al Abadi as the man to unite the country after Mr al Maliki was criticised for deepening sectarian divisions and steering the country towards all-out civil war.
US soldiers watch as halal meals are parachuted to the ground in Iraq But Mr al Maliki has indicated he will not cave in to pressure to stand down, appearing on TV overnight to accuse the new president of violating the constitution.
In a surprisingly strident speech, the prime minister threatened legal action against newly elected President Fuad Musam for failing to back him for a third term.
As he spoke, Shia militias and security forces loyal to Mr al Maliki were deployed across Baghdad in an apparent show of strength.
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.
He said: "We believe that the government formation process is critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in Iraq - our hope is that Mr Maliki will not stir those waters."
In northern Iraq, Islamist extremists have been forced out of two towns by Kurdish troops, while thousands of Yazidis stranded on a mountain after fleeing the militants have been streaming into Iraq's northern Kurdistan region.
Yazidi refugees approach the food bundles on the ground 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.
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.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has chaired 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 despite mounting pressure.
The political turmoil comes amid mounting evidence of the slaughter of minority Christians and Yazidis by Islamist extremists.
Photographs taken in the north of the country appear to show crucifixions and beheadings, as well as a series of executions by gunfire.
Refugees flee the extremists carving a bloody path through northern Iraq 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.
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.
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