Fabius is expected to meet with top officials in Baghdad before flying to Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan for talks with the regional Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, the state-run Iraqiya channel said.

On Saturday, French President Francois Hollande said his country will send first humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of Iraqi people, mainly Christians besieged by the fighters.

France' efforts came as tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees fled into the mountains, apparently hoping to reach the Kurdish region, but were trapped because of militant activity between the mountain and the Kurdish area, and were running short of food and water.