EU condemns 'atrocities' by IS militants

The emergency meeting in Brussels left it to individual states whether they would arm Iraq's Kurds against Islamic State (IS) militants in the north.
France and the US have already moved to supply the Kurds with arms.
IS violence has driven an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis from their homes.
After the talks, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was flying to Iraq to meet Kurdish leaders and the government in Baghdad to discuss what support is most needed.
"We cannot just watch as people are slaughtered there," he said after the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. "If the current threat level persists, I can't rule out that we will have to deliver weapons."
Iraq has appointed a new prime minister to tackle the crisis. Haider al-Abadi, deputy speaker of the parliament, took over from his fellow Shia Muslim politician Nouri Maliki on Thursday, ending a dangerous political deadlock in Baghdad.
One of Iraq's most powerful Sunni tribal leaders, Ali Hatem Suleiman, has reportedly said he is ready to work with the new prime minister if he protects the rights of Sunnis.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shia cleric, has already thrown his weight behind the new prime minister in Baghdad.
In another development, there are reports of fierce fighting with IS militants in the predominantly Sunni region of Anbar, west of Baghdad.
AFP news agency quoted a Sunni tribal leader, Sheikh Abduljabbar Abu Risha, as saying an "uprising" was under way against IS, while Anbar police chief Maj-Gen Ahmed Saddak said security forces were backing the fight to drive out IS.
'Atrocities and abuses' After meeting in Brussels, the EU foreign ministers said in a statement: "The EU remains seriously concerned about the deterioration of the security situation in Iraq, and condemns in the strongest terms the attacks perpetrated by [IS] and other associated armed groups.
"The EU also condemns the atrocities and abuses of basic human rights, in particular when committed against targeted religious minorities and most vulnerable groups."

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been pushed back by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq

The ministers called for investigations into possible crimes against humanity.
They welcomed the "decision by individual Member States to respond positively to the call by the Kurdish regional authorities to provide urgently military material.
"Such responses will be done according to the capabilities and national laws of the Member States, and with the consent of the Iraqi national authorities."
The emergency EU meeting was called by France, whose foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, had criticised the EU for inaction on Iraq.