Vice President Joe Biden landed in Baghdad on Monday to mark the official end of the US combat mission in Iraq after seven years of fighting that has seen more than 4,400 American soldiers killed. A US embassy official told reporters that Biden arrived in the Iraqi capital at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), one day before a speech by President Barack Obama will signal the end of the American military's combat operations here. A major reduction in US troops in recent months has coincided with a surge in car bombings and shootings that has targeted the Iraqi forces who have steadily taken on security responsibilities since 2009. The latest violence has seen hundreds of people killed, including a high number of police, but Washington has steadfastly continued to pull troops out of the country, with fewer than 50,000 now based here. Although the unrest is not on the same scale as in 2006 and 2007 when sectarian conflict raged alongside the anti-US insurgency, some 300 people have been killed each month this year, and July was the deadliest since May 2008. The rise in the number of attacks also comes as Iraq wrestles with political animosities that have seen no new government formed since an inconclusive general election almost six months ago. Obama declared shortly after taking office last year that the US combat mission in Iraq would end on August 31, 2010, after which American troops would take on a training and advisory role prior to a complete withdrawal in 2011. He used his weekly radio address on Saturday to say that Iraq is now a 'sovereign' nation free to determine its own destiny. 'On Tuesday, after more than seven years, the United States of America will end its combat mission in Iraq and take an important step forward in responsibly ending the Iraq war,' Obama said. Biden, Obama's point man on Iraq, will meet Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the former premier and recent election winner Iyad Allawi during his trip, the White House said in a statement. 'The vice president's visit at this juncture will reinforce the long-term US commitment to Iraq,' the statement added, noting that Biden would take part in a ceremony to mark the US military's change of mission. There are now 49,700 American soldiers here, less than a third of the peak figure of almost 170,000 during the US 'surge' of 2007, when Iraq was in the throes of brutal Shiite-Sunni violence that cost tens of thousands of lives. The top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, has said the new force strength will be maintained 'through next summer' before troop numbers fall towards zero by the end of December 2011 withdrawal deadline. However, the recent rise in bloodshed -- 535 people were killed in July -- has raised doubts about Iraq's ability to defend itself against insurgents. The country's top army officer, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, warned on August 11 that a complete withdrawal of US troops at the end of next year would be premature, and urged a change of tack from the country's politicians. 'At this point, the withdrawal (of US forces) is going well, because they are still here,' Zebari told selfnews. 'But the problem will start after 2011 -- the politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011. 'If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020.' Biden last visited Iraq at the start of July when he urged the country's squabbling politicians to resolve their differences and form a government, but there has been no breakthrough. Incumbent premier Maliki was narrowly defeated by Allawi in the March 7 election, but the vote was shared between an array of rival blocs forcing both men to look for coalition partners. Neither Maliki, a Shiite who leads the State of Law Alliance, nor Allawi, also Shiite but leader of a broadly secular coalition with strong Sunni Arab backing, has managed to secure a majority in the 325-seat parliament. 