(VOVworld) – US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday to urge its leaders not to withdraw from the political process in Baghdad after Kurdish forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk. In talks with Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, Kerry said Iraq is passing through a decisive period and the formation of a new government is the foremost task. He went on to say that the Kurds will have the key role in fighting the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani (R) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) in Iraq's Kurdistan region June 24, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Barzani said attacks by Sunni gunmen in Iraq’s north and west are pushing Iraq into a civil war. The Kurdish community is facing “a new reality and a new Iraq” and seeking a solution to the crisis.

On Tuesday, air strikes conducted by Iraqi security forces on the town of Baiji north of Baghdad and a nearby oil refinery killed 32.