The United Nations is stepping up aid deliveries to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have already been displaced, setting up camps and providing medical supplies, a spokesman said Friday.

"UN agencies are moving further supplies into the country in anticipation of further displacement," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

A World Food Programme flight from Dubai would transport humanitarian supplies to Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, he said.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said earlier Friday that hundreds of people may have been killed in recent days and nearly 1,000 wounded as Sunni militants march on Baghdad.

UN refugee agency UNHCR is concerned about a shortage of shelter as the numbers of displaced increase, Haq said.

He said 300,000 people are reported to have arrived in Arbil and Dohuk with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Families in Dohuk are sheltering in mosques, schools, churches and unfinished buildings, and a growing number of people are staying at a transit camp near Mosul, he said.

"UNHCR has helped the Iraqi government set up tents and is providing other relief items. Other UN agencies are installing latrines and water tanks," he said.

Aid workers have set up a new camp to host some 3,000 people near Dohuk and two more sites are being planned, Haq said.

The World Health Organization and partners are helping to provide medicines to families stranded at checkpoints, and will provide measles vaccinations in the next few days, Haq said.

The head of the UN mission in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, has been holding talks on "initiatives" and "trying to see what he can do to bring the Iraqi government and people together," Haq said.

On Friday, Mladenov urged the Iraqi federal court for a "timely" certification of the 2014 legislative election results, he said.

"At this stage we do believe that Baghdad for now is safe. That may change and of course if there are any changes we will raise alerts accordingly," Haq said.

The militant advance towards Baghdad
Baghdad (AFP) June 13, 2014 - A snapshot of developments in Iraq, where Sunni militants are marching on Baghdad after seizing several provinces.

Tuesday, June 10

- Hundreds of jihadists, mostly from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), seize Iraq's second biggest city Mosul in a lightning offensive and take control of Nineveh province. They also overrun sections of the nearby provinces of Kirkuk and Salaheddin.

The swift collapse of Baghdad's control comes after the loss of Fallujah, west of the capital, earlier this year.

- Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says the government will provide weapons and equipment to citizens who volunteer to fight against militants and that the cabinet has created a special crisis cell.

- Washington says the jihadists pose "a threat to the entire region".

Wednesday, June 11

- The militants seize the city of Tikrit, Salaheddin's provincial capital. Security forces repel an assault on the highly sensitive city of Samarra, witnesses say.

- ISIL storms the Turkish consulate in Mosul and kidnaps 49 people including the head of the mission, after earlier seizing 31 Turkish truck drivers from a power station.

- ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani promises that the battle will "rage" on Baghdad and Karbala to its southwest, considered one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims.

Thursday, June 12

- Militants seize two strategic areas of Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, after security forces withdraw.

- Kurdish forces take control of the disputed oil hub of Kirkuk to protect it against jihadists. Iraqi Kurds want to incorporate Kirkuk province into their autonomous region, a move Baghdad strongly opposes.

- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promises Iraq's Maliki his government's full support against "terrorism".

Friday, June 13

- Militants battle pro-government forces near Muqdadiyah, just 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Baghdad's city limits. The government announces a new security plan for the capital.

- Leading Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urges Iraqis to take up arms against the militants marching on Baghdad.

- Maliki says security forces have begun clearing cities of "terrorists". Residents of Samarra, just 110 kilometres (70 miles) from Baghdad, say gunmen are gathering to its north, east and southeast.

- US President Barack Obama says he is examining options short of sending ground troops, but warns that Iraq must heal its own divisions.

- UN human rights chief Navi Pillay cites reports of extrajudicial killings and summary executions.

- The International Organisation for Migration estimates that 40,000 people have fled Tikrit and Samarra, adding to half a million people believed to have fled Mosul.