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Paul Wood in Jalula, eastern Iraq: ''There is growing panic...they think the jihadis are coming in''
Government
forces in Iraq have used their limited air power to hit Islamist-led
militants advancing from the north towards the capital Baghdad.
They are fighting to push back ISIS and its allies in Diyala
and Salahuddin provinces, after the militants overran the second city,
Mosul, last week. The militants are reported to have made advances in the west, with new fighting in the city of Ramadi.
In the capital, wealthier residents are stockpiling food and water.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared on television with Sunni Muslim and Kurdish leaders on Tuesday to issue a call for national unity, in the face of the advance of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and its Sunni Muslim allies. They demanded that non-state forces lay down their arms.
However, such a call is unlikely to have much effect as Mr Maliki has openly sponsored the formation of Shia Muslim militias to fight alongside regular Iraqi troops, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from Irbil in northern Iraq.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron will hold talks with his senior security advisers on Wednesday to discuss the crisis, warning that ISIS represents a "real threat" to Britain.
Unity call In the western province of Anbar, where the capital is Ramadi, the militants said they had made advances, with a number of police stations near the town of Hit going over to dissident tribes.
In the north, the Iraqi government said it had recaptured the citadel in the strategic town of Tal Afar, where militants were said to have taken control on Monday.
In unusually strong language, Mr Maliki accused Saudi Arabia - which is largely Sunni - of backing ISIS.
He also fired four army commanders for failing to halt the sweeping advance by the militants. They included the top commander for Nineveh, the first province where ISIS fighters made major gains.
Meanwhile, Qasem Suleimani, the commander of an elite unit of Iran's revolutionary guards, is reported to be in Baghdad, helping military and Shia leaders co-ordinate their campaign against the rebels.
With Shia areas of the capital bombed almost daily, correspondents say inhabitants of Baghdad have developed a siege mentality.
People with enough money have started to stockpile essential items of food, correspondents say, which has increased prices dramatically.
The government has insisted that food supplies are not in danger and that ISIS will not be able to take Baghdad
Prices of food and other essential items have risen significantly in and outside Baghdad as the conflict has escalated
The army and Shia militiamen (pictured)
have been showing their strength in Baghdad as the city braces itself
for a possible ISIS attack
Correspondents have warned that Iraq could be on the brink of outright sectarian war between Sunnis and Shias
Many Sunnis, particularly the conservative ones who started turning against al-Qaeda eight years ago, and enabled the US forces to leave Iraq with what seemed at the time to be dignity, are not at all happy that ISIS should control their towns and villages.
But the danger of the present fight-back by Shia volunteers is that they will victimise ordinary Sunnis, and make them feel that ISIS is the only group that can protect them.
In other words, this has the potential to turn into a clear-cut religious war, with the possibility of mass "cleansing" of civilians and brutality on a large scale.
- President Obama will brief top congressional leaders on Irag at the White House on Wednesday
- The US is reportedly considering the possibility of deploying a small number of special operations forces to Iraq to help train security forces
The rebels now control the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit
- Estimated 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria
- Joined in its offensives by other Sunni militant groups, including Saddam-era officers and soldiers, and disaffected Sunni tribal fighters
- Exploits standoff between Iraqi government and the minority Sunni Arab community, which complains that Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is monopolising power
- ISIS led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, obscure figure regarded as a battlefield commander and tactician
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