Britain's support to Iraqi security forces and regional Kurdish forces in their fighting against the Islamic State (IS) will be balanced, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in Baghdad on Monday.

"We have said to the Iraqi government that we ensure that the support we provide would be balanced between the Kurdish security forces and the Iraqi security forces," Hammond said at a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafariin in Baghdad.

Hammond also said that his country's support would be effective, but would not replace the role of the Iraqi security forces.

"We always understood that the air campaign alone was not going to be decisive in turning the tide against the IS ... the heavy work on the ground is going to have to be done by Iraqi forces and is going to have to be done by Sunni community in the areas that the IS occupied," Hammond told reporters.

He added that the anti-IS coalition needs to retrain and reorganize Iraq security forces, "providing technical and other support to the government as it delivers its program for national reconciliation." The Iraqi government needs to quell the uprising of the Sunni community against the Shiite-led government of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, which is threatening to split the country apart, the chief British diplomat said.

The Sunni Arabs have been carrying out wide-spread and regular protests since December 2012, complaining about injustice, marginalization, discrimination, double standards and politicization of the judicial system. They also accused the Shiite-dominated security forces of indiscriminately arresting, torturing and killing their sons. The deep division in the Iraqi society has created a proper atmosphere for extremist groups, including the IS, to gain support from angry citizens.

The security situation in Iraq began to drastically deteriorate since June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and IS militants. The latter took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories after the Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

For his part, Jaafari confirmed that his government's stance to reject the presence of foreign troops on Iraq's soil.

"We have asked for weapons, equipment, air support, but we didn 't ask for building foreign military bases, or troops on the ground. We want them to enable our forces to fight the IS," Jaafari said.

Hammond, who arrived in Baghdad earlier in the day, is expected to discuss with Prime Minister Hader al-Abadi on combating the IS and improving national unity. Endi

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