DUBAI, April 4 (AFP) -  A US State Department delegation held talks with Iraqi Kurdish leaders during a visit to their northern Iraq enclave this week, one of the two main groups in the area said Thursday.
The delegation was led by Ryan Crocker, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, said the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in a statement faxed to AFP in Dubai.

The US team met KDP chief Massoud Barzani in his Salahuddin headquarters and Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the other main faction sharing control of the Western-protected Kurdish enclave, in Sulaymaniyeh, it said.

"The US delegation emphasized (Washington's) continued engagement with the parties and underscored its resolve to maintain the security, protection and humanitarian support of the people of Iraqi Kurdistan," which has been off limits to the Baghdad government since the 1991 Gulf War, it added.

Crocker, who also visited the region in December, was "reassured of the commitment" of the KDP and PUK to implement a 1998 US-brokered peace deal between the two factions and to "confront terrorism" while "supporting Iraq's territorial integrity and seeking a democratic, pluralistic and federal Iraq."

The statement gave no further details about the talks, held against the backdrop of US threats to launch a military offensive against Iraq and try to overthrow President Saddam Hussein unless he allows UN arms inspectors back into the country.

The team's trip precedes a US-sponsored meeting of Iraqi opposition groups organized by the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

Organizers have sent out invitations to major opposition groups and figures for the April 9-10 meeting in Washington, funded by the State Department, London-based PUK official Latif Rashid, currently in Sweden, told AFP by telephone Thursday.

That meeting is supposed to pave the way for a broader opposition conference attended by experts that will seek to draft a program of what should be done after Saddam is removed from office, according to opposition spokesmen.

State Department officials said last week Washington is to spend five million dollars to fund the conference, which is likely to be held in Europe.
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U.S. Envoy Visits Kurds in Iraq 
WASHINGTON (AP) - A top U.S. official completed a four-day visit Thursday to the Kurdish region of Iraq, which included talks with groups opposed to Saddam Hussein, the State Department said.

Ryan Crocker, a deputy assistant secretary of state, met with leaders of the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and other groups, spokesman Philip Reeker said.

He said the visit reflected continued U.S. engagement with the Iraqi opposition.

He added that Crocker will visit neighboring Turkey on Friday and Saturday.