Iraq PM says will cooperate with Kurds to liberate Nineveh

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi addresses to media during a joint press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel (not pictured) in Berlin February 6, 2015. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/Files

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Baghdad government would work with Kurdish authorities to liberate the northern province of Nineveh from Islamic State militants. "Our visit to Erbil today is to coordinate and cooperate on a joint plan to liberate the people of Nineveh," Abadi said at a news conference during his first official visit to the Kurdish region since becoming prime minister last year. (Reporting by Saif Hameed and Isabel Coles; editing by John Stonestreet)