General Lloyd Austin, the officer who oversaw the US military withdrawal from Iraq, visited Baghdad for talks on defence cooperation and security issues including Syria, the US embassy said on Thursday.

Austin, who now heads the US Central Command, "visited Baghdad May 14 to 16, 2013 to discuss US-Iraq defence cooperation and regional security issues, including the situation in Syria," the embassy said in a statement.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are battling rebels in neighbouring Syria in a conflict that has spilled over into Iraq on several occasions and reportedly killed more than 94,000 people.

The US general met with officials including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, acting defence minister Saadun al-Dulaimi, national security advisor Falah al-Fayadh and top Iraqi military officer General Babaker Zebari.

Austin was the final commander of United States Forces - Iraq, overseeing the withdrawal of US troops from the country, which brought to a close an almost nine-year war that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, thousands of US soldiers and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

The withdrawal was completed when the last convoy of US troops crossed into Kuwait in the chilly early morning of December 18, 2011.

But more than 10 years after US-led forces toppled late dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq is still plagued by violence that has killed more than 200 people per month so far this year, and political conflicts that have paralysed the government.

US soldier gets life for 2009 killings in Iraq
Los Angeles (AFP) May 16, 2013 - A US soldier convicted of killing five of his colleagues in Iraq in May 2009 was sentenced to life behind bars Thursday and dishonorably discharged.

Army Sergeant John Russell was convicted earlier this week over the murders at a clinic for soldiers suffering from war-related stress at Camp Liberty, the largest US base in Iraq.

Russell, who previously denied responsibility, admitted the killings last month in a plea deal to escape a death sentence, worked out by his lawyers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), in the northwestern US state of Washington.

On Thursday he was jailed for life, reduced to the rank of private and given a dishonorable discharge from the military, military spokeswoman Barbara Junius told AFP.

At the time of the Camp Liberty killings, the incident represented the single deadliest toll on US forces in a month in Iraq, and came at a sensitive moment in the US military's occupation of the country it invaded in 2003.

Russell was on his third tour of duty in Iraq, and his unit was preparing to leave the country.

Due to concerns over Russell's mental state, his commanding officer had ordered about a week before the shooting that his weapon be confiscated and that he get counseling.

After pleading guilty last month, Russell gave an account of the killings for the first time. The victims were three soldiers receiving care at the clinic and two medical officers.

"I just did it out of rage, sir," he told the military judge, Colonel David Conn, describing how he walked from room to room firing at mental health workers and patients.

"I was upset. I do not remember being angry, but I know that everyone who witnessed me outside the combat stress clinic said I looked angry," the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying.