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The US and other world powers have said they are ready to arm Libya’s UN-backed unity government to help it fight the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group.

Speaking in Vienna, US Secretary of State John Kerry said world powers would back Libya in seeking exemption from a UN arms embargo. He said IS was a “new threat” to Libya and it was “imperative” it was stopped.

Last month, the Libyan government warned that IS could seize most of the country if it was not halted soon.

After holding talks with international partners, Mr Kerry said: “The GNA [Government of National Accord] is the only entity that can unify the country. It is the only way to ensure that vital institutions… fall under representative and acknowledged authority. “It is the only way to generate the cohesion necessary to defeat Daesh [IS].”

The requested arms embargo “exemption” for Libya will need to be approved by the UN Sanctions Committee before it comes into force. But the Libyan government’s formal request for it signals that they have been given assurances that it would soon be approved.

Libya remains a country where multiple administrations are still bickering over who is in charge. Armed groups in western Libya, reputed for their shifting allegiances, only loosely back the new government, and there is no clear chain of command. There is a risk that future arms shipments will either fall into the wrong hands, or exacerbate the civil conflict there between rival militias.

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Three bomb blasts in Baghdad have killed at least 53 people, medics say, the latest in a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital in the past week.

A female suicide bomber is believed to have targeted a market in the northern, mainly Shia Muslim area of Shaab. The other bombs went off at a market in the neighbouring predominantly Shia district of Sadr City and among shoppers in Rashid, to the south.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the Shaab attack.

IS militants were also behind three car bombings in Baghdad on Friday, which left killed 93 people, and an assault on a natural gas plant north of the city on Sunday that left at least 14 people dead. More than 100 civilians were injured in Tuesday’s attacks, medics said.

Analysts say a spate of suicide bombings carried out by IS signal a shift in strategy, after the group lost a significant amount territory to Iraqi pro-government forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes. The attacks also come with Iraq locked in a political crisis, with parliament resisting attempts to reshuffle the cabinet as part of an anti-corruption drive.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has warned the deadlock is hampering the fight against IS, which still controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq.

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A severed human head has been found in a Cambridgeshire quarry.

The head was found by a quarry worker at Mepal, between Chatteris and Ely, on Monday afternoon. It is not yet known whether the head was male or female.

Officers are also searching a site 40 miles away in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, where they believe the head came from. Police stressed the discovery at Block Fen Drove was of a head and not a skull and that they were trying to establish how long the remains had been there. It has been removed and is being analysed by the Cambridgeshire Coroner.

Det Insp Jerry Waite, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit (MCU), said: “We are conducting enquiries both locally and across the county borders, and would urge anyone with information about the finding to contact us. “At this stage we do not know if the head is male or female, however we have got officers carrying out searches at a site in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, as we believe this is where the remains may have come from.”

A forensics team has been at Mill Road, Sharnbrook, since Monday afternoon.

Mick George Ltd, which has an aggregates and landfill site at Block Fen Drove, said “We are working closely with the police and providing them with all the information they need to undertake their investigations. “At this point we cannot provide any further comments.”

A number of companies operate out of Mepal quarry, and many extract aggregates to be used in the construction industry. Police said the head was found at about 15:00 BST by a Mick George worker.

The Islamic State (IS) group has staged a suicide attack on a gas factory near Baghdad in which 14 people were killed and 20 wounded, Iraqi officials say.

The assault began when three car bombs exploded at the gate of the plant in Taji, north of the capital. Six men wearing explosive belts rushed in and blew up gas tanks, before security forces won back the facility.

IS, which controls large parts of western and northern Iraq, has stepped up attacks in Baghdad recently. It has claimed the latest incident, which began after dawn at the Taji facility, 20km (12 miles) north of Baghdad. A fireball shot up into the air as the three gas tanks were blown up by the militants.

Those killed in the blasts are reported to include workers as well as members of the security forces.

Sunday’s attack is another reminder of the threat IS still poses in Iraq, despite losing considerable territory in recent months. Just last week, the group mounted a series of suicide bombings in Baghdad that killed more than 90 people.

There have been more such attacks by IS already this year in Iraq than in all of 2015 – a clear switch in strategy to make up for battlefield defeats. In Syria, the past two days have seen a big offensive against the remaining government redoubts in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, which straddles key routes to Raqqa and Iraq.

The group is even threatening Palmyra again, the ancient city it lost earlier this year. IS clearly wants to show that it can recover momentum even as it loses ground and its finances suffer. The attack comes four days after car bomb attacks by IS killed 93 people in Baghdad on Wednesday – the deadliest day of violence in the capital so far this year, Meanwhile, Iraq remains in political crisis. Divisions among political factions has prevented the formation of a new cabinet. The deadlock has raised concerns about the government’s ability to fight IS.

Recent IS Attacks

11 May 2016: Car bombs in Baghdad kill 93 people, including 64 in market in Shia district of Sadr City
1 May 2016: Two car bombs kill at least 33 people in southern city of Samawa
26 March 2016: Suicide attack targets football match in central city of Iskandariya, killing at least 32
6 March 2016: Fuel tanker blown up at checkpoint near central city of Hilla, killing 47
28 February 2016: Twin suicide bomb attacks hit market in Sadr City, killing 70

The Turkish army and US-led coalition forces are reported to have attacked Islamic State (IS) targets in northern Syria, killing 27 militants.

Military sources quoted in Turkish state-run media said the air and artillery strikes took place on Sunday within 10km (six miles) of the border. They said the militants were killed as they prepared to fire rockets.

On Monday, Turkey reportedly detained seven suspected IS members including one described as an IS “executioner”. The suspects were held in raids in the Elazig area of eastern Turkey, state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Recruiting Mission

The agency said the alleged executioner had carried out several killings in Syria for the militant group. The others detained included an unidentified man described as a senior leader.

The IS suspects had gone to Elazig on a recruiting mission, according to the Dogan news agency. Sunday’s strikes on IS destroyed five fortified defence posts and two gun posts, Turkish media said. They were the latest in a string of attacks on IS in the area, aimed at preventing further assaults by the militants on the Turkish border town of Kilis.

The town has been hit by rockets fired from Syria multiple times in recent months.