If required, "we will bring all of our forces to preserve Kirkuk," Barzani said during a meeting there.

It was Barzani's first visit to Kirkuk since Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of a major offensive by Sunni Muslim jihadists, allowing Kurdish forces already there to take control.

The offensive has cleared the way for Iraqi Kurds to begin realising long-held territorial dreams, moving their forces into disputed areas that the federal government has long opposed them adding to their autonomous northern region.

But this has also put Kurdish forces directly in the militants' line of fire.