15 July 2014 Last updated at 23:19

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have moved into parts of northern Iraq abandoned by the army in the face of an advance by jihadist-led rebels. The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil met members of an elite female unit as they prepared to go to the frontline. Morning assembly is in full swing at a military facility on the outskirts of Sulaimaniya, a city in the autonomous Kurdistan Region. The troops look serious and focused despite the scorching heat of the Iraqi summer. Standing straight in their fatigues with Kalashnikovs on their shoulders, this looks no different than any other training camp.