US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, as Sunni insurgents expand their control of towns across north-western Iraq.
Insurgents are reported to be trying to take control of a dam near the city of Haditha – its destruction could damage the country’s electrical grid.
On Sunday, Isis-led rebels captured border crossings to Syria and Jordan.
The strategically important airport in the northern town of Tal Afar has also fallen to the rebels.
There are reports that the town itself has also fallen to the rebels. Tal Afar controls the main road from the Syrian border to Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, which was captured by the rebels two weeks ago.
The Iraqi military has sent reinforcements to the dam near Haditha to protect it.
Officials said the rebels of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant took two key crossings in Anbar on Sunday, a day after seizing one at Qaim, a town in the province that borders Syria.
The capture of Tal Afar airport is a blow to the government as they were hoping to use it as a springboard to recapture the city of Mosul, says the BBC’s Jim Muir in northern Iraq.
Police sources in Iraq have told the BBC that 70 prisoners have been killed near the city of Hillah, south of Baghdad. The prisoners, who were all accused of terrorism, were being moved further south for security reasons when the convoy came under attack by gunmen.
They were killed in the crossfire, several policemen were injured and six of the gunmen were shot dead, police said.
