The mayor of a town northwest of Baghdad says it has fallen into the hands of Sunni militants, the second to be captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the mainly Sunni Anbar province.

Mayor Hussein AIi al-Aujail said, the local army and police force in Rawah pulled out when the militants took control.

The fall of Rawah, and the border town of Qaim on Friday, appears to be part of a new offensive. It comes as thousands of heavily-armed Shia militiamen paraded through several Iraqi cities on Saturday in a show of force, signalling their readiness to fight the Islamic State.