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Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made an unannounced visit to Baghdad for talks with the Iraqi government on boosting efforts to combat the Islamic State.

In his first visit to Iraq, Mr Abbott met with Iraqi leader Haider al-Abadi and pledged to ‘deepen’ Australia’s involvement in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.

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The jihadist organisation now controls an area of Syria and Iraq which is of a similar size to Great Britain.

In a joint press conference, Mr Abadi called on “the Australian side to increase the arming and speed up the training and distribution of what is needed by the Iraqi forces to decide the battle and eliminate the Islamic State organisation”.

Mr Abbott said Australia was “determined to deepen our cooperation with the Government and the people of Iraq in the weeks and months to come”.

“Where our vital national interests are threatened, where universal values are at stake, Australia should be a strong partner,” Mr Abbott said.

He pledged an extra $5 million in humanitarian assistance, saying Australia was a “friend of the Iraqi people”.

Mr Abbott also used the visit to thank Australian troops, indicating the trip was planned for last year, but was delayed due to the Sydney siege in December.

“I was hoping to come say happy Christmas to you but that opportunity was closed off by unfortunate events in Sydney,” Mr Abbott said.

“I am incredibly proud of you and every Australian is proud of you”.

Two-hundred special forces Australian troops were deployed to Iraq last year to train Iraqi soldiers fighting the Islamic State.

PM Al-Abadi receives Australian PM Tony Abbott in Baghdad and discusses strategic cooperation to defeat Daesh pic.twitter.com/0UvzX07XOm

— Haider Al-Abadi (@HaiderAlAbadi) January 4, 2015

Another pic from the meeting between @iraq PM @HaiderAlAbadi and Australian PM @TonyAbbottMHR in ##Baghdad pic.twitter.com/DdAql50d9U — Ammar karim (@ammar_afp) January 4, 2015