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BAGHDAD (AP) — Four mortar shells have been fired into the Green Zone as Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Baghdad.

The shells were heard as they were fired from accross the river on the east bank of the Tigris and at least one explosion could be heard. There was no immediate word on any casualties or damage in the Green Zone or in any other areas of the capital.

Warning sirens sounded in the protected zone, which is home to government offices, the U.S. and British embassies and parliament.

Biden arrived in Iraq earlier Tuesday on a mission to show the White House remains focused on the Iraq war despite military pullbacks and increased attention on Afghanistan.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq Tuesday on a previously unannounced mission to show the White House remains focused on the Iraq war despite military pullbacks and increased attention on Afghanistan.

The trip is Biden's third this year and is a chance for him to meet with the full range of Iraqi leaders both in Baghdad's central government and those of Iraq's self-governing Kurdish region, whose boundaries with the rest of the country have become a volatile fault line.

Biden also is to meet with members of the United Nations mission in the country during the three-day visit, U.S. officials said.

Shortly after his arrival, Biden was briefed by Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill.

Biden, who oversees Iraq policy for the Obama administration, made his last visit to the country on July 4 to spend the U.S. Independence Day with the troops. During that trip, he also met with his son, Beau, who is an Army captain serving in Iraq.

Iraq's government hopes that on this visit the U.S. vice president will have suggestions on how to ease tension with Syria, which Iraq's prime minister has accused of harboring Saddam Hussein loyalists wanted in recent bombings that killed more than 100 people.

Iraqi leaders also plan to discuss their preparations for January's national elections and persistent violence in the country's north, said an Iraqi government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

As the number of bombings and other attacks declines elsewhere in Iraq, the north remains a battleground between Sunni Arab extremists and Iraqi and U.S. forces. Kurdish-Arab tension there also frequently flares into violence.

Biden was to hold talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other officials that were expected to focus on Syria, January general elections and the violence in the north.

Al-Maliki has demanded that Syria hand over two suspects in the Aug. 19 truck bombings outside the foreign and finance ministries in Baghdad.

He has asked the U.N. Security Council to set up a tribunal to investigate the attacks.

Syria says the Iraqi government has failed to provide proof, rejecting extradition requests.

Biden's visit comes just before senior officials from Syria and Iraq, possibly the two foreign ministers, are to meet in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday in an effort to defuse the crisis.

A Turkish-mediated meeting last week in Cairo failed to make any headway after Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem of Syria and Hoshyar Zebari of Iraq had a heated exchange and traded accusations. Zebari accused Syria of fueling sectarian tensions in Iraq and supporting terrorism and violence that threaten its security. Syria denied the charges.

The accusations are widely seen as an attempt by al-Maliki, a Shiite, to shore up his position before the Jan. 16 elections after the increase in violence in recent months deeply hurt his security credentials.

The spat with Syria has also isolated him among Iraqi politicians, just weeks after al-Maliki's Shiite backers dumped him from their political grouping ahead of the elections.

The United States, which has 130,000 troops in Iraq, has remained largely silent about al-Maliki's accusations.

During his last visit, Biden expressed concern that Arab-Kurdish tensions in northern Iraq might erupt into violence. At the time, all sides acknowledged the importance of moving forward on disputes over internal boundaries, the status of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and integrating Sunni fighters who fought with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq into official security services.

There were signs of friction during the July visit, however, after Biden urged Iraqis to do more to bring the country's deeply divided factions together. He offered U.S. help, but warned that assistance may not be forthcoming if the country reverts to ethnic and sectarian violence.

That prompted a strong reply from the Iraqi government, which said the U.S. should not be intervening in an "internal issue."

Many Iraqis still identify Biden with his earlier advocacy of splitting up the country along sectarian lines even though the Obama administration rejects that position.

Biden's spokesman tried to smooth things over after the visit, saying the talks with al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders were "both positive and productive." Biden has also subsequently met with the Iraqi prime minister in Washington.

After a series of horrific bombings in August that targeted non-Arab minorities in the north of the country Odierno proposed deploying American troops alongside Iraqi and Kurdish forces to help increase security.

He suggested the deployment of the U.S.-Iraqi-Kurdish forces could start in Ninevah province, where Mosul is located, before being extended to other restive areas.

No decision has yet been announced on the proposal, but it could come up during Biden's talks with al-Maliki.

To the west of Baghdad on Tuesday, three gunmen tried to attack a local government building in the Abu Ghraib area, setting off a clash with Iraqi security forces. One of the gunmen who was shot and wounded was able to detonate an explosives vest he was wearing, killing only himself, said police.

A second gunmen and a civilian were also killed in the clash, and a third assailant escaped, the police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not an official spokesman.