BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki traveled to the US on Tuesday to press for urgent help and arms to combat the worst upsurge of violence in years.

Nearly three years since the last US troops withdrew, militants are waging a campaign to destabilize the Shiite-led government that came to power after former dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003. Trained and equipped by the United States at a cost of $25 billion, Iraq’s security forces are struggling against insurgents who have driven the civilian death toll so far this year above 7,000.

“The urgent thing is to supply Iraq as quickly as possible with weapons of an offensive nature to combat terrorism and chase the armed groups,” Maliki said at an airport news conference before his departure.

Iraq has in the past urged Washington to speed up delivery of an order of F-16 planes, but Maliki said those would not help Baghdad fight militants and the priority now was to get other kinds of equipment such as helicopters.