BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi is to visit Iran on Monday for talks on Baghdad’s battle against the IS group, which holds swathes of the country, his office said. The one-day trip is part of Abadi’s bid “to unite the efforts of the region and the world to help Iraq in its war against the terrorist group,” it said in a statement issued on Sunday.

The visit also aims to strengthen cooperation between the two neighbours “in the fields of energy, and housing and construction,” among other areas.

Iraq is fighting to push back IS, which overran much of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland in a lightning offensive in June.

Tehran is a key backer of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

According to senior Iraqi Kurdish officials, it has deployed troops on the Iraqi side of the border in the Khanaqin area northeast of Baghdad.