Kurdish forces are struggling to defend themselves against Islamic State (IS) militants in northeast Iraq and are appealing for more international help.
There has been fighting around towns including Jalula and Sa'dya, which have been controlled by the well-armed Sunni extremists for several weeks.
The IS insurgents have seized large swathes of the country since a June offensive but have been hit by US airstrikes in some areas including around Mosul Dam.
However, Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, reporting from outside Jalula, north of Baghdad, said the Kurdish peshmerga fighters want more weaponry from the outside world and are "getting little or no air support".
Thousands of peshmerga and counter-terrorism soldiers have been deployed, including many around the town.
Sky's Stuart Ramsay outside the town of Jalula He said the Kurds have some heavy weapons but the equipment is old, while the jihadists "have modern equipment and lots of money".
Ramsay said the two sides are fighting to control territory not the towns themselves as IS have them "under total lockdown".
The Kurds are trying to cut their supply lines and one fighter told Sky News: "We need weapons to make the battle equal."
Ramsay said: "Peshmerga front-line positions are regularly hit from far away. There are scorch marks and burning patches everywhere."
Roadside bombs laid by the extremists are also "causing more casualties than ever before," he added.
Meanwhile, eight people have been killed after a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle packed with explosives at the interior ministry's intelligence headquarters in Baghdad.
PM designate Haider al Abadi is trying to form a more inclusive government It comes a day after a sectarian attack at a mosque killed at least 68 Sunni Muslims, plunging efforts to form a united front against the jihadists into crisis.
Officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Imam Wais mosque north of Baghdad, with Shia militiamen picking off fleeing worshippers with machine guns.
Diyala has seen heavy fighting between Iraqi troops and IS. File pic Attacks on mosques are acutely sensitive and have in the past unleashed a deadly series of revenge killings and counter attacks in Iraq.
The attack, in Diyala province, is seen as a blow to government efforts to secure backing from Sunni groups in its battle against the extremists.
The US says the killing of James Foley was a "terrorist attack" on America Prime Minister designate Haider al Abadi, a moderate Shia, is attempting to form a more inclusive government following the resignation of outgoing PM Nouri al Maliki.
But two influential Sunni politicians - Parliamentary Speaker Salim al Jabouri and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al Mutlak - have now pulled out of talks with the main Shia political alliance after the massacre.
The US, which is carrying out airstrikes against militants, has ramped up its rhetoric over the beheading of journalist James Foley.
In Washington, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the murder "represents a terrorist attack against our country".
He said the US would not be restricted by the Iraq-Syria border when it considers further action against IS militants.
Having poured in from Syria across a desert border that it does not recognise, the Islamist movement has declared its own caliphate.
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