Iraqi state television says the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen Martin Dempsey, has arrived in Baghdad, his first visit to Iraq since a US-led coalition began a campaign of airstrikes targeting the extremist Islamic State group.
Dempsey, a veteran of the Iraq war, arrived today on a previously unannounced visit.
His trip comes two days after he told Congress that the United States would consider dispatching a modest number of American forces to fight with Iraqi troops as they engage in more complex missions in the campaign against Islamic State militants who control about a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
