Kirkuk: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made a surprise visit to Iraq on to and urged Iraqi leaders to work towards reconciliation.

Rice also landed in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk on Tuesday morning to highlight recent progress on reducing violence and shoring up the economy.

State Department Iraq coordinator David Satterfield added: "What is missing here, and what is absolutely necessary over the long term to secure all of this, is political progress. They (have) got to move."

Kirkuk is seen as a potential flashpoint in Iraq because of Kurdish demands for it to be included in their largely autonomous region.