U.S. Defense Chief Arrives in Iraq's Arbil

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Arbil on Thursday for talks with Iraqi Kurdish officials on the war against the Islamic State group, an Agence France Presse journalist said.

Iraqi Kurdish forces are a key U.S. partner in the war against IS, which overran large parts of Iraq last year.

Carter's visit to Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, followed a trip to Baghdad the day before.

There, he met Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and the two discussed "improving cooperation between the two countries in the fields of arming and training," a statement from the premier's office said.

Carter and his delegation also met U.S. partners in the international anti-IS coalition.

U.S. aircraft carry out daily air strikes against IS targets, most of them in the Iraqi part of the jihadists' self-proclaimed "caliphate", which also covers regions in Syria.

President Barack Obama said on Monday the U.S. and its allies were hitting IS "harder than ever" and warned the extremists' leaders: "You are next."