US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks with Iraqi officials, after insurgents expanded their control in the western part of the country.
Mr. Kerry will meet with several officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Parliament Speaker Usama al-Nujaifi, a Foreign Ministry official said.
Mr. Kerry’s unannounced visit comes after he visited Cairo and Jordan on Sunday.
The news comes after insurgents overran new areas in western Iraq, including a crossing on the Jordanian-Iraqi border.
Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant already control the town of Qaim in Anbar province, near the border with Syria.
The rebels seized Mosul in a blitz last week and then moved on to capture a string of towns stretching south towards Baghdad.
Critics of Mr. al-Maliki accuse him of marginalising the country’s Sunni minority, which lost the upper hand with the downfall of Saddam Hussein after the US invasion in 2003.
