A British man has blown himself up fighting for Islamic State (IS) in a battle for Iraq's largest oil refinery.

Abu Hajar al-Britani killed a number of Iraqi army soldiers and military equipment after detonating nearly 2,000lb of explosives.

It happened during clashes in the strategically vital town of Baiji, which contains the biggest oil production plant in the wartorn country.

The father of two had previously spoken on BBC current affairs programme Newsnight about how many British-born jihadis wanted to join the waiting list for suicide operations for IS.

He is the second Briton to kill himself on a suicide mission for IS, which is fighting for control of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Before he fled Britain to join IS, Al-Britani was jailed for hate crimes after handing out Muslim extremist leaflets demanding executions for homosexuals.

Al-Britani's suicide bombing may have been a desperate last throw of the dice by IS commanders, after they were set on the run by Iraqi forces.

The group is one of the best-funded terror organisations in the world, due to revenues from stolen oil fields. The Baiji plant can refine around 310,000 barrels of oil per day, which amounts to around 40% of Iraq's refining capacity.