Turkey and Iraq have reached an agreement in principle that could eventually allow a Turkish role in the campaign to retake Mosul from the so-called Islamic State, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today after talks with President Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr Erdogan has previously voiced frustration that NATO member Turkey has not been more involved in the US-backed assault on the Iraqi city, once part of the Ottoman empire and still seen by Turkey as firmly within its sphere of influence.
Iraq, meanwhile, views Turkish military moves on its territory with apprehension, and any agreement on Mosul would defuse a major source of tension between the neighbours.
Mr Carter made clear that details on Turkey's potential role in the unfolding Mosul campaign still needed to be hammered out and a senior US defence official noted non-military assistance was also a possibility.
"That will have to obviously be something that the Iraqi government will need to agree to and I think there's agreement there in principle," Mr Carter said.
Meanwhile, IS militants have taken 550 families from villages around Mosul and are holding them close to IS locations in the Iraqi city, probably as human shields, a UN spokesperson has said.
UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani, citing "corroborated information" from the area, said the office was also investigating reports that IS militants had killed 40 civilians in one village.
Dozens of IS militants are also said to have attacked the northern city of Kirkuk.
There are reports of at least six policemen and 12 IS fighters being killed in clashes.
The attacks come as pro-government forces continue an offensive to retake IS-held Mosul further north.
The Turkish Red Cresent has said it expects 150,000 to 400,000 people to be displaced from Mosul and is making aid preparations in northern Iraq.
Twenty trucks of aid were being sent to Iraq with enough supplies for 10,000 people, it said.
Aid will initially go to 3,000-4,000 people who have fled villages around Mosul, he added.
The Regional Communications Manager with UNICEF has said it needs further financial assistance to help provide humanitarian assistance to people fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul and its surrounds.
Speaking on RTÉ News at One, Juliette Tooma said that UNICEF has a huge humanitarian operation ahead and it hopes it can cope with the number of people fleeing violence.
She said a funding appeal has been issued for the humanitarian needs of the residents of Mosul, but it comes on the back of an appeal for those in Syria and Yemen.
She said: "We are very short on funding. We do need the dollars to start coming in, as soon as possible, and we have issued an appeal for Mosul, but also for Syria and also for Yemen; all these crises that we are trying to deal with.
"We have staff on the ground all over these countries who are working under very dangerous situations to provide assistance to children and to families, but it's huge."
Dozens of jihadists carrying grenades and rifles were seen in several neighbourhoods of Kirkuk.
Witnesses said they saw small groups of gunmen entering mosques and other buildings elsewhere in the city.
"The forces of IS attacked the city of Kirkuk from all directions," IS-affiliated Amaq news agency reported, after gunmen wearing suicide vests struck the main police headquarters and other government targets in the Kurdish-controlled city.
The jihadists also targeted a power plant being built by an Iranian company further north.
