White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is in Iraq

Washington: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is in Iraq, a senior administration official has said.

Kushner travelled to Iraq this weekend and is expected back in the US early this week, CNN said.

Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, was invited by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, and is travelling with him, sources told CNN on Sunday.

A senior administration official, however, declined to say what was on Kushner's itinerary in Iraq.

This is his first visit to the country since assuming a broad portfolio of foreign affairs in the Trump presidency.

The New York Times was the first to report Kushner's trip.

He is expected to have a major role in the meetings later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For Kushner, 36, it's one of his most high-profile assignments yet in his new role in the government.

Earlier Trump was reported to be unhappy as Kusher went skiing as the health care bill floundered, CNN said.

In addition to other duties across the administration, he has been tasked with the role of Middle East peace envoy. 

Married to Ivanka Trump, Kushner has emerged in the opening weeks of the Trump administration as one of the president's closest confidantes.

Since taking office, Trump has spoken infrequently about Iraq or his policy there. His comments last week that the US is "doing very well in Iraq," which remains besieged by violence, drew particular notice and criticism.

The visit by Kushner comes after US military officials acknowledged that the US was likely behind an airstrike that killed scores of Iraqi civilians in Mosul on March 17. 

The incident renewed concern about civilian deaths in the wake of the US-led air campaign against Islamic State terror group.