BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says that “Iraqis have to put together and hold together” to end increasing sectarian violence wracking the country as Sunni insurgents over-run key cities.

Biden made the comments Tuesday during a stop in Brazil’s capital Brasilia. Earlier in the day, he met with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. He watched the U.S. team play its World Cup soccer opener the night before.

Biden says the U.S. government is “consulting closely with a full range of Iraqi’s leaders on an inclusive political path forward even as we provide assistance to Iraq’s security forces.”

He added: “Urgent assistance is clearly required.”

Biden didn’t provide more details on the kind of assistance.

He says the U.S. must “help Iraq build the capacity to confront threats over the long term.”

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