Italy is exploring the opportunity to offer military support to Kurdish forces in Iraq and it has requested a meeting of European foreign ministers, Italian foreign minister Federica Mogherini said on Monday.

"We are evaluating with our principle European partners more efficient means" of stopping the advance of jihadist militants, Mogherini said in a radio interview.

"We're not talking about military intervention but providing support, even of a military sort, to the Kurdish government."

The Italian foreign minister said she had written on Sunday to Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union, to ask for a foreign ministers' meeting on "Iraq, Gaza and Libya, three crises which concern Europe directly".

"Several countries are making a move, but the initiative must be European," she said.

On Sunday, France said it was considering supplying arms to Kurdish forces fighting against IS militants in Northern Iraq.

The US have conducted three separate air strikes in the northern region of the country and, alongside Turkey and Britain, have also provided food and water supplies to more than 40,000 Yazidis under the threat of IS, formerly known as Isis, militants.

DC

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