Update: U.S. defense chief meets Iraqi leaders over IS fight

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday held talks with Iraqi leaders over the military campaign against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, and pledged to boost military support for Iraqi forces.

A statement, issued by the office of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, said Abadi met with Carter in his office in Baghdad Green Zone and the two "discussed strengthening the military and security cooperation between the two countries and the increase of support by the international coalition to Iraqi forces fighting in Mosul with equipment, weapons, training and counseling."

"The meeting also stressed on the importance of cooperation to cut off supplies and communication for terrorist gangs (IS group) between Mosul and Syria and to provide close air cover for our forces in Mosul," the statement said.

During his visit, the Pentagon chief held talks with his Iraqi counterpart Khalid al-Obeidi and top Iraqi commanders in the defense ministry in Baghdad, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"The two sides discussed the military cooperation between Iraq and the United States and the ongoing preparations to liberate Nineveh province from Daesh terrorist gangs (IS in Arabic)." the statement said.

The two sides also discussed the support the Iraqi forces needed in the field of training and arming, it said.

For his part, Carter asserted his country's readiness to meet all the demands presented by the Iraqi government for the battles against IS militants, the statement added.

Earlier in the day, Carter arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to discuss an offer of sending extra military advisers.

Media reports said that Washington is to send 200 extra troops to Iraq to help fight the IS militants, raising the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq to about 4,100.

The U.S. support will also include the deployment of Apache attack helicopters for the first time in Iraq.

The Pentagon will also provide up to 415 million U.S. dollars to Kurdish peshmerga military units, which are fighting IS militants in northern Iraq while the Kurdish government struggles with a budget deficit.

Hundreds of U.S. Marines are already in Iraq, as trainers and advisers, to help the country battling IS extremists in Iraq's western province of Anbar and in northern Iraq.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS militants.

The IS took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

A U.S.-led coalition has been conducting air strikes on IS targets in both Iraq and neighboring Syria. Endit