Iraq conflict: Amerli in 'urgent need of help' - UN

The northern Iraqi town of Amerli is in urgent need of assistance to provide aid and prevent a possible massacre by Islamic State (IS), the UN has warned.

United Nations deputy special representative for Iraq Gyorgy Busztin told the BBC's Jim Muir that some 15,000 people were trapped under siege by IS forces.

The IS campaign has displaced an estimated 1.2 million people in Iraq, many of them minority Christians and Yazidis.