DHAKA: US president Barack Obama says he has authorized targeted airstrikes against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, if they threaten US interests.

The US has already made humanitarian air drops to Iraqis under threat from fighters from the Islamic State.

The Islamic State (IS) group has seized Qaraqosh, Iraq’s biggest Christian town, prompting residents to flee.

The supplies were dropped to members of the Yazidi minority outside Sinjar, a US official said.

Many Yazidi have left their homes, some taking refuge in nearby mountains.

Early the UN Security Council met to discuss the situation in Iraq.

‘The members of the Security Council call on the international community to support the government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq,’ said UK ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall, reports the BBC.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was ‘deeply appalled’.

Meanwhile,, the US has warned that the situation for Iraq’s minority groups threatens to become a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’.

BDST: 0755 HRS, AUG 08, 2014