An Iraqi child walks through a displacement camp Saturday, June 28, in Khazair, Iraq. Vast swaths of northern Iraq, including the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar, have fallen as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, advances toward Baghdad, the capital. The ISIS militants want to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the region, stretching from Iraq into northern Syria. 
An Iraqi woman walks with her child outside of a displacement camp on June 28 in Khazair, now home to an estimated 1,500 internally displaced persons. 
Peshmerga fighters, or Kurdish warriors, check cars at the entrance to a temporary displacement camp in Khazair, Iraq, for people caught in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul on Thursday, June 26. 
A group of women wait outside the temporary displacement camp in Khazair on June 26. 
Smoke rises in the Karakus district of Mosul as clashes between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants on June 26. 
Food is handed out at the displacement camp in Khazair. 
A child walks over discarded water bottles and trash at a registration area at the displacement camp in Khazair on June 26. 
Kurdish Peshmerga take their positions behind a wall on the front line of the conflict with ISIS militants in Tuz Khormato, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 25. 
Peshmerga fighters clean their weapons at a base in Tuz Khormato, Iraq, on June 25. 
Female Peshmerga between 18 and 45 years old form a special unit that is called to serve in any conditions. A soldier is pictured here on June 25. 
A woman gathers bread in a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught up in the fighting in and around Mosul on Tuesday, June 24. 
An ISIS fighter takes control of a traffic intersection in Mosul on Sunday, June 22. 
An ISIS member distributes a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, to a driver in Mosul on June 22. 
Members of ISIS patrol in Falluja, 40 miles west of Baghdad, on Saturday, June 21. 
Volunteers raise their weapons and chant slogans during a parade in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad, on Saturday, June 21. 
Iraqi men register to volunteer to fight alongside security forces against Sunni Muslim militants and jihadists on Friday, June 20, at a recruitment center in Baghdad. 
New Iraqi army recruits gather in Najaf on Wednesday, June 18, following a call for Iraqis to take up arms against Islamic militant fighters. 
Soldiers with an Iraqi anti-terrorism unit are on guard June 18 in Baghdad. 
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter injured in clashes with members of ISIS lies in a hospital in Irbil on June 18. 
An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter lands on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, June 17. The carrier moved into the region to give President Barack Obama has said. 
Newly recruited Iraqi volunteer fighters take part in a training session in Karbala on June 17. 
Iraqi tribesmen gather in Baghdad on Monday, June 16, to show their readiness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Islamic militants. 
Iraqi Christian children gather inside the Church of the Virgin Mary for prayers in Bartala, Iraq, a town near Mosul, on Sunday, June 15. Militants seized Mosul last week, reportedly leading more than 500,000 people to flee Iraq's second-largest city. 
Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against ISIS in Basra, Iraq, on June 15. 
Members of ISIS prepare to execute some soldiers from Iraq's security forces in this image, one of many reportedly posted by the militant group online. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the images. 
A woman cradles her baby Thursday, June 12, at a temporary camp set up in Aski Kalak, Iraq, to shelter those fleeing the violence in northern Nineveh province. 
A girl fleeing from Mosul arrives at a Kurdish checkpoint on June 12. 
Iraqi men chant slogans outside of an army recruiting center to volunteer for military service June 12 in Baghdad. 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces, along with Iraqi special forces, deploy their troops and armored vehicles outside of Kirkuk, Iraq, on June 12. 
Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants in Mosul on Tuesday, June 10. 
Civilians from Mosul escape to a refugee camp near Irbil, Iraq, on June 10. 
Iraqis fleeing the violence wait in their vehicles at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski Kalak on June 10.
- Iraq: Terrorist groups have control of about 40 kilos of uranium compounds
- U.S. officials say concern is minimal as the materials aren't enriched or weapons-grade
- The compounds were used by university departments in Mosul for study and research
- Iraqi ambassador asks U.N. for help "to stave off the threat of their use"
(CNN) -- Militants in Iraq have taken hold of nuclear materials at university science facilities near the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi government has said in a letter to the United Nations.
But two U.S. officials told CNN on Wednesday that the small amounts of uranium aren't enriched or weapons-grade, prompting only minimal concern.
The letter from Iraq's U.N. ambassador about the uranium compounds asks for help "to stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad" as the country struggles with a deadly insurgency.
In the letter, obtained Wednesday by CNN, Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said that "terrorist groups have seized control" of nearly 40 kilograms (90 pounds) of uranium compounds at science departments at the University of Mosul after the sites "came out of control of the state."
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Does video show ISIS leader in Iraq? The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, an al Qaeda splinter group, has led Sunni insurgents who have taken over large areas of northern and western Iraq in an offensive that began last month. The terrorist group has also made major gains in Syria in its quest to establish an Islamic state spanning both countries.
In his letter, dated Tuesday, Alhakim said the nuclear materials were used in "very limited quantities" for scientific study and research. But he warned that despite the small amounts, the materials could be used by terrorists in Iraq or smuggled out of the country.
"Such materials can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction," Alhakim wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Reuters.
Iraq witnessed another violent day Wednesday as the country's security and political crises deepened.
More than 50 unidentified bodies were found in the predominantly Shiite town of Alexandria on Wednesday, Iraqi security officials said.
The bodies of two children were among the dozens found in different parts of the town.
Details about the circumstances of the deaths were not immediately available, and officials did not say when the people may have been killed.
Not far from Alexandria, at least five people were killed and 17 wounded by three car bombs that exploded in front of a courthouse in the town of Hilla, security and medical officials said.
Hilla is about 92 kilometers (57 miles) south of Baghdad and is the first sizable town south of the capital.
READ: Signs of war: Life amid Iraqi conflict
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CNN's Richard Roth, Elise Labott, Hamdi Alkhshali and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.
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