Teenagers rush to join the call to defend city from ISIS militants who are fighting

Baghdad's boy army: Teenagers rush to join the call to defend city from ISIS militants who are fighting just 45 miles away - and Iraq's last Christians say they fear being wiped out

Children are taking up arms in Iraq against the jihadist forces threatening to march on Baghdad in the latest worrying development in the crisis-hit country.

Images coming out of Iraq today show youths brandishing automatic rifles as they march with the militias forming in the capital to fight back against the forces of ISIS.

Similar pictures also emerged from Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteer to fight, and so far thousands have signed up.

But today the Sunni militants captured a key northern Iraqi town along the highway to Syria, compounding the woes of the Shiite-led government a week after it lost a vast swath of territory to the insurgents in the country's north. They have vowed to attack Baghdad but their advance to the south seems to have stalled in recent days

Iraq's dwindling but ancient Christian community is also fleeing the country following frequent attacks by Sunni Muslim militants targeting them and their churches, it was reported today.

Iraq was estimated to have more than one million Christians before the 2003 invasion and topping of Saddam Hussein. Now church officials estimate only 450,000 remain within Iraq borders. Militants have targeted Christians in repeated waves in Baghdad and the north.

'I'm not going back,' said Lina, who fled Mosul with her family as the militants swept in and came to Alqosh, about 31 miles to the north. 'Each day we went to bed in fear,' the 57-year-old woman said.

It came as graphic and sickening footage emerged of captured Iraqi soldiers being taunted, made to repeat extremist slogans then ruthlessly executed by ISIS insurgents.

The video, uploaded to the internet, shows a man - believed to be a fighter for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) - marching up and down a row of prisoners. He addresses each in turn and has them repeat the word 'baqiya' - which is believed to be an ISIS slogan meaning 'ISIS will endure'.

Making much of the military badges on their clothes, he moves from man to man, grabbing and slapping the faces of those who do not immediately co-operate.

After the exchange one prisoner - who seemed resistant to repeating the slogan - is laid down and shot dead off camera, while an official document - seemingly a passport - fills the camera's screen.

The latest footage follows previous still images uploaded to extremist websites, apparently showing mass executions of Iraqis dressed in civilian clothes.

Some were herded along by riflemen as they were hunched over, while another picture appeared to show a gunman marching along a line of face-down prisoners systematically killing them with an AK-47.

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The gruesome images have prompted a tide of outrage from around the world - including from the Secretary General of the UN. They also appear to be increasing the likelihood of U.S. military intervention.

And you do what you need to do if you need to try to stop it from the air or otherwise.' He also said the U.S. would be open to working alongside Iran to beat ISIS.

The footage emerged after another Iraqi town fell to ISIS militants this morning, solidifying their hold in the north of the country.

Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border, was taken before dawn this morning, the town's mayor said. It is due west of Mosul, Iraq's second city, which fell last Wednesday.

Mayor Abdulal Abdoul said that his town, 260 miles north-west of Baghdad, was taken just before dawn. Residents confirmed the occupation.

Tal Afar, which has a population of 200,000, contains a mixture of Shiite and Sunni Muslims. It is also just miles from an Iraqi airbase.

Last night, Iraqi officials were reporting that Tal Afar was under fire from rockets seized from nearby military depots. Inside the town the local army garrison was said to have suffered heavy casualties, which overwhelmed the local hospital. No numbers were provided.

Later today the town of Saqlawiyah, further to the south and just 50 miles west of Baghdad, was also overrun by ISIS. The militants captured six Humvees and two tanks, adding to their arsenal of seized weapons originally given to Iraq by the U.S.

An eyewitness, who said Iraqi army helicopters were circling during the fighting, said: 'It was a crazy battle and dozens were killed from both sides. It is impossible to reach the town and evacuate the bodies'.

As Iraq suffered at the hands of ISIS, Foreign Secretary William Hague affirmed the likelihood that hundreds of British radicals would be among those involved in the killings.

Mr Hague said Britons who have gone to Syria for the country's bloody civil war would 'inevitably' be caught up in Iraq's unrest. He said the majority of ISIS's members were Iraqi or Syrian but that 'it also includes a significant number of foreign fighters among its ranks'.

Despite identifying ISIS as the 'most violent and brutal militant group in the Middle East', the Foreign Secretary repeated that there is no prospect of British military intervention.

But he said counter-terrorism support could be offered to the government in Baghdad, and that a Ministry of Defence (MoD) team had been sent to the country to assist embassy staff in contingency planning.

The United States has also stepped up is military presence in the region. A ship carrying 550 marines - the USS Mesa Verde - was dispatched to the Gulf today.

It joins the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, and two missile ships. President Barack Obama has not ruled out military action of some kind, but said there will be no 'boots on the ground'.

An American aircraft carrier, The USS George H.W. Bush, flanked by two missile ships, arrived in the Persian Gulf yesterday as President Barack Obama considers possible military options, although he has ruled out putting American troops on the ground in Iraq.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby has said the move will give Obama additional flexibility if military action were required to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq.

In neighboring Iran, the acting commander of the Islamic Republic's army ground forces, Gen. Kiomars Heidari, said Iran has increased its defenses along its western border with Iraq, though there was no immediate threat to the frontier.

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