Kerry arrives in Iraq to discuss crisis

Baghdad, June 23 (IANS) US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Monday for talks on the situation in the violence-hit country, media reported.

During his Iraq visit, Kerry will meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as well as both Shiite and Sunni leaders, CNN reported.

The militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Sunday captured two key border crossings of al-Waleed, on the Syrian frontier, and Turaibil, on the Jordanian border in Anbar province after government forces pulled out.

The ISIL militants on Friday captured the towns of Qaim, Rawah, Anah and Rutba also in the Anbar province.

According to security officials, 70 percent of Anbar province is now under the control of the militants.

With al-Maliki’s Shia-led government losing more ground to militants from both the ISIL and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Kerry has implored the leader to rise above “sectarian motivations” to become more inclusive, more representative of its population.

The US, which pulled out of Iraq in 2011, is deploying some 300 military advisers to Iraq to help in the fight against the insurgents.