US President Barack Obama has authorised air strikes against Islamist militants in Iraq to protect American personnel and launched humanitarian assistance to stop a genocide.

With Islamist militants surging across northern Iraq, sending tens of thousands fleeing for their lives, President Obama said the US would take limited military action to stem the violence.

"Today I authorized two operations in Iraq; targeted airstrikes to protect our American personnel, and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food, and water and facing almost certain death," the President said.

Speaking after meetings with his national security team, Obama took action amid international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

He said he had no intention of sending US ground troops back to Iraq

The airstrikes would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in Iraq since the withdrawal of its forces at the end of 2011,

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