Top US general in Iraq amid IS airstrike campaign

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.