Clearly we need to continue doing the air drops we have been doing, getting people vital supplies, like water in our case.
We do know there are many people left on that mountain in desperate straits.
The US have given us a more accurate on-the-ground assessment but ultimately we need to continue helping people on the mountain.
We have to bear in mind when people come off the mountain they are still displaced."
The minister accepted on Radio 4's Today programme it was "difficult to get the exact facts".
09.21 A local health official said four children have died in clashes between Sunni militants and Iraqi soldiers west of Baghdad, AP reports.
Hospital director Ahmed Shami said the fighting took place early on Thursday on the northern outskirts of the city of Fallujah, which has been in the hands of the Islamic State group since early January.
Shami says at least 10 militants and a woman were also killed. He had no details about the clashes beyond saying that the bodies of the victims were brought to his hospital.
Along with Fallujah - which is 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad - the Islamic State controls large swaths of the country's north and west.
The militants' offensive has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the 2011 pullout of U.S. troops.
09.09 A girl from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, rests at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishk habour
Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community cross the Syrian-Iraqi border along the Fishkhabur bridge over the Tigris River
09.05 Last night, Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, said more aid from the UK was on its way.
09.04 The United Nations has announced its highest level of emergency for the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
According to AP, The U.N.'s declaration of a "Level 3 Emergency" will trigger additional goods, funds and assets to respond to the needs of the displaced, said UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov, who pointed to the "scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe".
The Security Council said on Wednesday it was backing a newly nominated premier-designate in the hope that he can swiftly form an "inclusive government" that could counter the insurgent threat. However, yesterday, Iraq's current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki said he would not leave until the court ruled that he should.
9am Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Iraq crisis. The latest from The Telegraph's US Correspondent David Millward is that a mission to rescue tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees is “far less likely” the Pentagon said as it assessed a report from marines, special forces and aid experts who briefly landed on Mount Sinjar.
The Pentagon believes the number of refugees still trapped on the Mount Sinjar is down to the low thousands.
Meanwhile it emerged last night the SAS was on the ground in Iraq as part of the operation to rescue 30,000 “desperate” Yazidi refugees, it emerged on Wednesday, as US forces landed on Mount Sinjar.
American officials confirmed that a combined contingent of 20 US Marines, special forces and USAID disaster assistance experts had "briefly" landed on Mt Sinjar just hours after David Cameron pledged that Britain would help with the mission.
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