Iraq conflict: UK offers £3m in emergency aid

Thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes

The UK will provide an initial £3m in emergency aid to help civilians fleeing the Islamist insurgency in Iraq, the government has said.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the package included clean water, medicine and protection for vulnerable women.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes after insurgents seized the cities of Mosul and Tikrit.
Ms Greening said Iraq faced "serious humanitarian need".
Mass movement The insurgents, from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have been moving closer to Baghdad, with Kurdish militants responding in some areas.

After officials from the Department for International Development (DfID) were deployed to Iraq on Thursday, Ms Greening has activated the UK's Rapid Response Facility, which provides emergency support using a network of pre-approved organisations.
Basic household items and "women-friendly hygiene kits" will also be provided, and United Nations teams will be sent into refugee camps to protect women and girls, said DfID.
Ms Greening said the UK's contribution would include support for the UNHCR [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] to provide "dedicated safety and welfare teams to protect vulnerable women".
The UNHCR has said local authorities estimate that up to 300,000 people fled Mosul in the past few days - joining the more than 500,000 displaced by the conflict in Anbar province earlier.
Save the Children said the crisis was "one of the largest and swiftest mass movements of people in the world in recent memory".
Foreign Secretary William Hague has said Britain could offer counter-terrorism expertise, while former Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the idea of sending troops back to Iraq should not be ruled out.