The notorious so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have executed 12 Sunni clerics in northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
The Iraqi army has retaken full control of the central cities of Tikrit and Samara, a day after extremist militants seized it, Al-Alam reported.
US President Barack Obama says his government is looking at "all options", including military action, to help Iraq fight ISIL militants.
Kurdish forces are in full control of Iraq's oil-rich city of Kirkuk after the federal army abandoned their posts, a peshmerga spokesman says.
A spokesman for the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) terrorists operating inside Iraq has called on the group’s members to march toward the capital, Baghdad.
At least 54 people have been killed and scores wounded in a string of attacks in the capital and around Iraq, medical and police sources said.
Iraqi provincial authorities expect two million Iraqi and foreign pilgrims will have visited the holy city of Karbala in the 10 days leading up to Ashura, with all of the city's hotels fully booked.
Iraqi security forces have hunted for militants and weapons in the Baghdad area, while attacks have killed six people, including three soldiers and a judge, officials say.
A new wave of insurgency in Iraq has left nearly 50 people, including Iraqi soldiers, dead in Mosul, Baghdad and other cities.
Attacks in Iraq have killed 11 people, including four soldiers, in the latest wave of violence that has left 420 people dead so far this month.