U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (left) and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni shake hands before their meeting in Jerusalem, yesterday. - Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters):

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew into Baghdad yesterday for a surprise visit to press Iraqi leaders to resolve their differences and ease raging sectarian violence that has killed thousands.

"Our role ... is to support all the parties and indeed to press all of the parties to work towards that resolution quickly, because obviously the security situation is not one that can be tolerated and is not one that is being helped by political inaction," Rice told reporters travelling with her.

But her arrival in Baghdad was delayed by 30 minutes because of "indirect fire" at the airport complex, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Her plane circled until it was deemed safe for her to land.

Rice, on a Middle East tour, held talks with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who met Sunnis and fellow Shi'ite majority leaders on Monday to agree a four-point plan to try to stem mistrust between the sects and ease sectarian violence.

U.S. officials have been putting pressure on Maliki to rein in militias, many tied to parties within his Shi'ite-led government, that are blamed for much of the communal bloodshed.

Rice, whose last visit to Baghdad in April was credited with pressuring Iraqi leaders to form the national unity coalition under Maliki,

Her visit will focus new attention on Iraq in the United States at a time when President George W. Bush's administration is on the defensive over the war in campaigning for next month's congressional elections.

Bush has vowed to back Maliki if he stays on course to reconcile opposing factions. Maliki has repeatedly pledged to stamp out the militias but some critics have questioned whether his government has the political will.

CRITICAL TIME

"We are going to Baghdad because it is a quite critical time for the Iraqi government as they work on their ... national reconciliation plan," Rice said as she flew from Jerusalem via Incirlik air force base in southern Turkey.

Rice also stressed that she wanted to support Maliki as he seeks to promote national reconciliation. "I think he is a very good and strong prime minister," she said.

However, she acknowledged the enormity of the challenges facing the government.

"It is going to take time. (It) did not get to this situation overnight and they are not going to get out of it overnight.

"It ought to be very clear to everybody - and I think it's especially clear to the Iraqi government - that these are urgent matters that they have to take on with great urgency.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said this week that the main threat to Iraq was now from sectarian violence and that the four-month-old national unity government had just two more months to start containing it.

Khalilzad, echoing U.S. generals' warnings last week, said he stuck by his view expressed after the government was formed in late May that it must, in its first six months, curb the danger of civil war.