US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Irbil in Northern Iraq for talks with local leaders as insurgents continue to gain ground.
Islamist militants say they've fully captured the country's main oil refinery after heavy fighting at the site in Baiji, north of Baghdad.
The complex has been a battlefield since Wednesday as Sunni fighters launched an assault on the plant.
An Iraqi military spokesman said that hundreds of Iraqi soldiers had been killed by Sunni Arab militants in the current offensive.
Secretary of State John Kerry spent yesterday meeting with politiicians in Baghdad
After the meeting he said "The support will be intense, sustained, and if Iraq's leaders take the steps needed to bring the country together it will be effective."
