US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Baghdad on Thursday for talks with top political and military officials on Iraq’s war against the Islamic State jihadist group.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Baghdad on Thursday for talks with top political and military officials on Iraq's war against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Carter, on his first visit to Iraq since taking the job in February, is expected to meet Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, as well as Sunni tribal leaders from Anbar province, where much of the current fighting is taking place.

Top foreign officials' visits to Iraq are generally not announced in advance for security reasons.

Carter is expected to meet some of the 3,500 US troops deployed in Iraq to advise and train local forces battling the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group.