Even as Western powers struggle to put together a coalition to tackle the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS or ISIS), Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq have been battling for weeks to stem the jihadist onslaught.

The Islamic State insurgency has spread like wildfire across Syria and Iraq, leaving behind it a trail of death and desolation.

Iraqi Kurdistan's Peshmerga fighters, backed by Kurds from neighbouring Syria and Turkey, have paid a heavy price to defend their autonomous region from the jihadists.

Our reporters take you to the heart of the struggle for control of Iraq's lawless north.