The Islamic State (IS) has captured the largest Christian city in Iraq, while edging closer to the border with Kurdistan.
Qaraqosh, home to around 50,000 Christians fell to the militants on Thursday, after Kurdish peshmerga forces withdrew from the city in Nineveh.
Around 200,000 refugees, mostly members of minority communities like the Yazidis and Christians, are reported to be fleeing from the IS advance, according to UN officials.
Eyewitnesses in Qaraqosh said militants were taking down crosses in churches and burning religious manuscripts.
The US says it is considering dropping humanitarian aid to at least 50,000 refugees, mostly Yazidis, who are trapped on a mountain in the north of Iraq, which is nearly entirely surrounded by IS forces.
"We have been working urgently and directly with officials in Baghdad and Erbil to coordinate Iraqi airdrops to people in need," a US defence official said on condition of anonymity, according to The Guardian.