Iraq Isis: 'Peshmerga Kurd sacrifices' ignored as Kurdistan excluded from US-led coalition London meeting

The president of Iraqi Kurdistan has complained after Kurdish representatives were left out from a meeting of US-led coalition against Islamic State (Isis) held in London.

Masoud Barzani, President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, issued a statement in which he expressed his disappointment and urged leaders to pay more attention to Kurdish fighters who are battling IS insurgents in Iraq and Syria, Reuters reported.

"We were expecting everyone to show respect to the sacrifices made by the people of Kurdistan and its peshmerga [fighters] by inviting a representative from Kurdistan to this event and similar such events," Barzani said.

Kurdish troops have been in the front line of the battle fighting against the IS advance across swathes of Iraq and Syria. In the key battle of Kobani, on the Syrian border, Kurdish forces have fought the Islamists to a bloody standstill.

IS, whose insurgence started last summer, has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of women into sexual slavery in the caliphate 'state' it has established in occupied territory, based upon strict medieval Muslim sharia law.

Last December, IS released a video showing the beheading of three Kurdish prisoners of war in the Iraqi town of Sinjar.