U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid an unannounced visit to Iraq on Tuesday morning, flying directly into the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a U.S. embassy spokesman said.
Rice is meeting with provincial politicians and will fly to the Iraqi capital later in the day to meet top Iraqi leaders, the spokesman told Xinhua.
It is the first visit by Rice to this northern Iraqi oil hub, and it is also the eighth visit by Rice as U.S. Secretary of State.
Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, has witnessed increasing tension, since the collapse of Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, as Arab and Turkmen population in the city are fighting Kurdish efforts to join the city to their autonomous region just to the north.
Source: Xinhua
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