Iraqi govt bolsters defences as militants move nearer Baghdad

 BAGHDAD: The Iraqi government bolstered Baghdad's defences Friday as jihadists pushed towards the capital and President Barack Obama said he was exploring all options to save Iraq's security forces from collapse.
Washington said US companies were evacuating hundreds of staff from a major air base north of Baghdad as the militants battled security forces just 80 kilometres (50 miles) from city limits.
With militants closing in on the capital, forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region took control of a swathe of territory they have sought to rule for decades against the objections of successive governments in Baghdad, according to a news agency.
Obama said Iraq was going to need "more help from the United States and from the international community" to strengthen security forces that Washington spent billions of dollars in training and equipping before withdrawing its own troops in 2011.
The interior ministry said security forces had adopted a new security plan for the capital to protect it from the advancing militants.
Militants were gathering Friday for a new attempt to take the city of Samarra, home to a revered Shiite shrine whose 2006 bombing sparked a sectarian war, witnesses said.
Witnesses in the Dur area, between militant-held Tikrit and Samarra, said they saw "countless" vehicles carrying gunmen south during the night.
Residents of Samarra, just 110 kilometres (70 miles) north of the capital, said gunmen were gathering to the north, east and southeast of the city.
A tribal leader said militants had approached the security forces in the city, asking them to leave peacefully and promising not to harm the Al-Askari shrine.