The EU has backed the supply of arms to Kurdish fighters to help fend off the threat of Islamic extremists in Iraq but insisted that such deliveries should be approved by the new government in Baghdad.

An emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels issued a statement on Iraq calling the country an "important partner in need of strong support" and called for urgent investigations into "atrocities and abuses of basic human rights which could be considered crimes against humanity".

The EU foreign affairs council welcomed US support to Baghdad and Kurdistan in the fight against the Islamic State (Isis) movement. It added that "the council also welcomes the decision by individual member states to respond positively to the call by the Kurdish regional authorities to provide urgently military material".

The statement was a reference to France's decision to arm the Kurdish peshmerga forces directly, and the UK role in shipping ammunition and equipment to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from eastern Europe and Jordan. An EU diplomat said that over the course of the meeting, the language in the statement was strengthened to emphasise collective support for those moves.

But the statement added "such responses will be done according to the capabilities and national laws of the member states, and with the consent of the Iraqi national authorities", making it clear that weapons deliveries would have to be approved by the new Baghdad government of Haider al-Abadi.

While seeking to strengthen the KRG in the face of the Isis threat, the US and western European states have been wary of boosting the cause of Kurdish separatism, which they fear would destabilise the region further.