Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, has made an unusual and unexpected visit to Ramadi, the Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad.

Al-Maliki, who is Shia, flew into the capital of Anbar province on Tuesday aboard a US military helicopter to meet tribal leaders, local government officials and commanders of Iraqi and US security forces.

"I haven't been to Ramadi since 1976," said al-Maliki.

"I love this province and I'm proud that it's part of Iraq," he said, after meeting Maamun Sami Rashid, Anbar province governor, in a Saddam-era palace inside a joint US and Iraqi military base.

Al-Maliki and Rashid vowed to work together to combat al-Qaeda insurgents who have been fighting in Anbar since the US-led invasion began in March 2003.

Peace move

During the prime minister's visit, Iraqi and US troops patrolled Ramadi's streets in large numbers and a vehicle curfew was imposed.
US commanders said they saw al-Maliki's trip as a concrete sign that his Shia-led government is serious about working with Anbar's Sunni leaders, many of whom have turned against the insurgency.

"It's very exciting to have the prime minister in Anbar," said John Allen, US Brigadier General. "It shows that nothing's impossible."

Al-Maliki's party held a day of meetings with Anbar leaders and tribal sheikhs, including some of those now fighting al-Qaeda fighters in the province.

Many ordinary Sunnis distrust or oppose Maliki's Shia-led government, feeding support for a wider Sunni insurgency across Iraq.

More US troops

The new US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, was also in Ramadi on Tuesday, touring US and Iraqi units.

The coalition says Al-Qaeda fighters have taken deep root in Anbar, which stretches west from Baghdad to the borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.

The US military and the Iraqi government have as yet failed to assert their will among the fiercely-independent Sunni tribes living in the province.

Additional US troops are deploying in Baghdad and Anbar in support of a new security plan which has already seen the deployment of about 90,000 Iraqi and US soldiers in Baghdad.

Photo caption

Iraqi PM meets sunni tribal leader in Ramadi