Isis leader urges Muslims to 'build Islamic state'

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled leader of the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) militant group, has called on Muslims to travel to Iraq and Syria to help build an Islamic state.

In an audio message, al-Baghdadi said it is the sacred duty of all Muslims to immigrate to the "Islamic State".

According to the BBC, the Isis leader has made a special call for judges, doctors, engineers and people with military and administrative expertise to help him to form an Islamic state, or caliphate, on territories it controls in Iraq and Syria.

Isis has claimed that the current Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nur-e Maliki has lost control of vast swathes of territory to Sunni militants over the past month.

The group says its Islamic state will extend from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq.

Al-Baghdadi is on record, as saying that Syria is not for Syrians, and Iraq is not for Iraqis. He has also called on jihadist fighters to escalate fighting during the holy month of Ramadan, which began on Sunday.

The Sunni insurgent advance across Iraqi towns and cities has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since US troops left in 2011.

The United Nations has said at least 2,417 Iraqis, including 1,531 civilians, have been killed since June. The figure do not include fatalities in the western province of Anbar, where the Iraqi authorities say 244 civilians have died.