Pentagon chief finishes Baghdad talks

The Pentagon’s top general has finished talks in Baghdad with senior Iraqi officials about ways the US might help plug gaps in Iraq’s security.

A spokesman for Army General Martin Dempsey said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and senior Iraqi military officers.

The spokesman, Marine Colonel David Lapan, said they talked about the crisis in Syria as well as ways the US might provide Iraqi with more military assistance.

Gen Dempsey is the highest-level US official to visit Iraq since the last US combat troops left the country in December.

He also met with the chief of the US Office of Security Co-operation in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Robert Caslen.