US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq today to urge Iraqi leaders to speed up national reconciliation.
Making her eighth visit as secretary of state to the country the United States invaded in 2003, Ms Rice is planning to highlight progress on reducing violence and shoring up the economy.
Attacks in Iraq are down 60 per cent since June, but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shia-led government, paralysed by infighting, has made little headway in passing laws seen as vital to reconciling the country's sects and ethnic groups.
Ms Rice's visit to the northern city of Kirkuk came hours after 300 Turkish troops crossed into Kurdish territory in northern Iraq, according to a senior Iraqi military source. There were no reports of clashes, the source said.
Visiting Iraq in February, Ms Rice urged Iraqi leaders to use any lull in violence to push ahead with reconciliation, warning that US patience would not last forever.
Turkey says it has a right to use military force to combat Kurdish separatist rebels based in northern Iraq.