Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond joined international counterparts at a summit in Paris. Photo: PA Wire

Iraq’s Prime Minister has called for extra help in the battle against Islamic State (IS) militants in his country.

Haider al-Abadi said increasing numbers of “well trained, well armed” foreign fighters had joined the jihadi force, which has captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi and the historic Syrian city of Palmyra in recent weeks.

In a plea for assistance at a meeting of international allies in Paris, Mr al-Abadi said his country needed “the support of the world” but “we are not getting it”.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the Iraqis needed support in terms of logistics, air cover and training, but insisted that offering ground troops was not an option.

The meeting came after reports that the UK government is preparing to expand its training mission – currently based in the relatively safe Kurdish-held area of northern Iraq – into more dangerous parts of the country.

Britain already has more than 100 personnel in the Kurdish north where they have trained 1,200 peshmerga fighters in combat infantry skills including sharpshooting, first aid, counter-improvised explosive device (IED) operations and weapons maintenance.

Mr al-Abadi said the flow of foreign fighters across the border into Iraq to join IS has not slowed and the force is now mainly from outside Iraq.

“They have brought hundreds of new fighters, foreign fighters, well trained, well armed,” Mr al-Abadi said.

“This is a transnational organisation. We need all the support of the world, the intelligence of the world and we are not getting it.”

Mr al-Abadi said he is investigating why commanders in Ramadi ordered troops to pull back without fighting IS extremists but rejected the assessment of US defence secretary Ashton Carter that the Iraqi forces “showed no will to fight”, instead blaming a lack of intelligence support.