The governor of the disputed Iraqi oil province of Kirkuk said Wednesday it was important for US forces to extend their year-end pullout deadline because of renewed fears of sectarian violence.

Nejmeddine Karim's remarks constituted a rare public show of support for the US military presence in Iraq, which is due to conclude at end of the year, although American officials have been pressing their Iraqi counterparts to decide soon whether to extend the deadline.

"Keeping the US troops is important to protect the sky and borders of Iraq and to maintain the internal security of the country, because we are witnessing a large danger through the escalation of violence and the fear of sectarian violence," he told AFP in an interview.

"The security situation will collapse in Iraq if the US forces withdraw now," said Karim, a Kurd and also the head of Kirkuk's security committee, who was elected governor by the provincial council earlier this year.

Ethnically divided Kirkuk lies at the centre of a tract of territory which Kurdish leaders want to incorporate in their autonomous region in the north over the opposition of many of the province's Arab and Turkmen residents and of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The unresolved dispute is persistently cited by diplomats as one of the biggest threats to Iraq's future stability.

Currently, of the 45,000 US forces stationed in Iraq, around 1,200 participate in confidence-building patrols and checkpoints with central government forces and Kurdish security officers in Kirkuk and across the disputed territories.

"The US presence is very important in the disputed areas, especially the areas in Kirkuk province," said Karim, a neurologist who lived and practised in the United States before returning to Iraq early last year.

"The US army is the only force that gets respect, and has the ability to impose its will on others. Also, it deals in a neutral way with all political personalities," he added.

Violence has plummetted in Iraq since peaking in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands were killed in clashes between Sunni and Shiite Arabs and insurgent attacks. But bombings and kidnappings remain common.

On May 19 in Kirkuk city, a spate of bomb attacks against police killed at least 29 in what was the worst violence to hit Iraq in nearly two months.

Private security firm AKE Group said last week that attacks have been on the rise since the beginning of the year, with violent incidents averaging more than 10 a day in May, up from four to five a day in January.

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