American forces are tracking about 50 members of an elite Iranian force who have crossed the border into southern Iraq to train Shiite militia fighters, a top U.S. general said Sunday. The French foreign minister, meanwhile, arrived in Baghdad on a groundbreaking visit after years of icy relations with the United States over Iraq.

Bernard Kouchner's plane touched down at Baghdad International Airport at about 6 p.m. His arrival was announced simultaneously by French authorities in Paris.

In Paris the foreign ministry said, Kouchner was in "Iraq to express a message of solidarity from France to the Iraqi people and to listen to representatives from all communities."

The motives behind Kouchner's visit were not immediately clear, but merely stepping onto Iraqi soil was a major symbol of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's efforts to put an end to any lingering U.S.-French animosities over the 2003 Iraq invasion.

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