Kurdish forces and Islamic State fighters are clashing in a town only 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil in northern Iraq, Reuters reported, citing a senior Kurdish official.

Jabbar Yawar, secretary-general of the ministry of the Kurdish peshmerga fighters, said on Wednesday, Aug 6, that military cooperation had been re-established with Baghdad in a bid to hit back against the Sunni militants who staged another dramatic push through the north over the weekend.

Yawar said 50,000 members of Iraq's Yazidi ethnic minority who fled the offensive and are hiding on a mountain near the town of Sinjar risked starving to death if they are not rescued in 24 hours.