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Iraq

Terrorist attacks in Iraq leave 24 people dead

2014-04-14

[Iran Press TV] At least two dozen people have been killed in a series of terrorist attacks in northern Iraq, in a surge of violence ahead of the country's parliamentary elections. According to Iraqi officials, 11 people, including five soldiers, bit the dust when a boom-mobile blasted near a security checkpoint in the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , northwest of the capital Storied Baghdad on Sunday. In a separate incident in the city, a boom-mobile kaboom in a market area left six people dead and nearly 10 others injured. Meanwhile in Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... a blast targeting a security checkpoint in the northwestern part of the city killed seven coppers. Eleven coppers were also maimed in the kaboom. Earlier in the day, a kaboom targeted the convoy of Iraq's Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi in Kirkuk, but he escaped unharmed. On Friday, unknown gunnies attacked the convoy of Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, who escaped the liquidation attempt in the Abu Ghraib area west of Storied Baghdad unhurt. Violence has been on the rise in Iraq as the country prepares for parliamentary polls set for April 30. Analysts say terrorist groups such as the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) are coming to Iraq from neighboring Syria and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... to undermine security in the country. The government in Iraq has blamed Riyadh for the chaos, saying the Saudi regime is funding and arming hard boyz fighting against forces in the country's western areas.

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Iraq

Iraqi deputy PM escapes assassination attempt

2014-04-12

[Iran Press TV] Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq has escaped an liquidation attempt when his convoy came under fire by unidentified gunnies. The assault, which took place in the Abu Ghraib area west of Storied Baghdad on Friday, left a guard dead and at least five people injured. "Mr. Mutlaq is safe and was not hurt," said an assistant to the deputy premier, who was travelling in the convoy. According to some reports, the snuffies were dressed in army uniforms and were driving military vehicles as they opened fire against the convoy, triggering a shootout with the guards. The liquidation attempt came as the country is heading towards an important election on April 30. Iraqi troops, backed by local Sunni rustics, have been fighting al-Qaeda-affiliated snuffies in the country's western regions, including Anbar province, since late December 2013. Iraq's Interior Ministry has said that snuffies have launched an open war in Iraq and they want to push the Middle Eastern country into chaos.

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Iraq

Iraq summons Turkish envoy over Erdogan broadside

2012-04-23

Iraq, locked in a public row with neighboring Turkey, has summoned Ankara's ambassador in Baghdad to protest at critical remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the foreign ministry said on Monday. The envoy, Younis Demerer, heard the Iraqi complaint on Sunday after several days of charge and counter-charge. Erdogan accused his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday of stoking conflict between Shi'ite Muslims, Sunni Muslims and Kurds through "self-centered" behavior. Maliki fired back that Turkey was becoming a "hostile state" with a sectarian agenda, saying it was meddling in Iraqi affairs and trying to establish regional "hegemony". Erdogan returned to the fray on Saturday, saying: "If we respond to Mr. Maliki, we give him the opportunity to show off." Analysts say mainly Sunni Turkey is worried that growing tensions in Iraq and violence in their mutual neighbor Syria may lead to a wider Sunni-Shi'ite conflict in the region. Erdogan's government has also recently forged close ties with Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which is embroiled in a row with the Baghdad government over claims to the city of Kirkuk and the region's oil. "(Foreign ministry undersecretary) Mr. Labeed Abbawi acquainted the Turkish Ambassador with the Iraqi government's intense protest against the recent statements," the Iraqi foreign ministry said on its website. "Undersecretary Abbawi expressed hope that the Turkish government will stop giving statements that affect Iraq's sovereignty and internal affairs." Erdogan has criticized Maliki several times since sectarian tensions flared in Iraq in December when the Shi'ite-led government tried to remove Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq and sought an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges he ran death squads. Isn't it interesting how Maliki and Erdogan are squaring off, and the Iraqi Kurds are all of a sudden playing kissy-face with the Turks?

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Iraq

Iraqiya Bloc stops boycotting parliamentary sessions

2012-01-30

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqiya MP Khalid al-Alwani announced today that his bloc stopped boycotting the parliamentary session that lasted 43 days. The return to the cabinet meetings was not resolved yet, as he continued. Iraq is living in real political crisis following the accusations uttered against vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi and the differences between Maliki and his deputy Saleh al-Mutlaq, both leading members of Iraqiyah bloc. In an attempt to solve pending questions among all parties, President Jalal Talabani proposed making a general national conference, due at the beginning of the next month, to solve these questions, including those between Arbil and Baghdad on oil and gas law and the implementation of Article 140 of the constitution.

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Iraq

Iraq asks Kurds to hand over Sunni vice president

2012-01-09

[Pak Daily Times] Iraq has formally asked authorities in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region to hand over Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and 12 of his entourage to face charges of running death squads, an Iraqi official said on Sunday. Iraq's Shia-led government issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni politician in mid-December, shortly after the withdrawal of the last US troops, triggering a political crisis that threatens Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's fragile governing coalition of Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions. The move against Hashemi and Maliki's request to parliament to remove Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, followed a few days later by a series of bombings in mostly Shia areas of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... that killed at least 72 people, revived fears of sectarian strife in the OPEC oil producer. "We sent an official request a day ago to the Interior Ministry and (security forces) of the Kurdistan region asking them to hand over al-Hashemi with twelve other suspects to judicial authorities in Storied Baghdad," Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister, told Rooters.

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Iraq

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatens to replace Sunni ministers

2011-12-22

As a sectarian crisis deepened just days after the last American troops pulled out of the country, Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia, promised a fair trial for Mr Hashemi, who has fled to the autonomous Kurdish region after learning that he was wanted for plotting assassinations during the insurgency. The prime minister's conduct has led to concern that he is attempting to exclude the Sunnis out of power and risks reigniting the violence between the two communities that scarred the middle of the last decade. US troops completed their withdrawal on Sunday, leaving behind what President Barack Obama described as "sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq". But Mr Obama has already had to call upon Vice President Joe Biden to try and cool tempers in Baghdad. Mr Biden telephoned Mr Maliki and Osama al-Nujaifi, the parliamentary speaker, on Tuesday and "stressed the urgent need for the prime minister and the leaders of the other major blocs to meet and work through their differences together," the White House said. Mr Maliki has also asked that parliament fire another rival, his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlaq, after he compared Mr Maliki to Saddam Hussein. There was some sign of an ameliorating effect on Mr Maliki, who invited the Sunni and Kurdish parties for talks, but he was promptly rebuffed by the Sunni party, Iraqiya. It said that Mr Maliki represented "the main reason for the crisis and the problem, not a positive element for a solution".

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Iraq

Iraq’s Maliki threatens to quit as U.S. expresses concerns over VP arrest warrant

2011-12-20

A political crisis is looming in Iraq as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened to resign if the Parliament did not give a vote of no-confidence against another leading Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, who is deputy prime minister, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported. Maliki over the weekend asked parliament for the vote against Mutlaq on the grounds that he lacked faith in the political process. Iraq on Monday issued an arrest warrant for its Sunni vice president on anti-terror charges, just days after the last U.S. troops left the country. The warrant was issued against Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, leading to fears for the unity cabinet after President Barack Obama declared America was leaving behind a “stable” Iraq with a government elected by the people. Hashemi and Mutlaq are both leaders of the Iraqiya bloc, a secular group backed by minority Sunnis, which joined Maliki’s unity government only reluctantly and recently boycotted parliament sessions after complaining of being marginalized. The United States expressed concern early Tuesday over the arrest warrant. “We’re monitoring reports that an arrest warrant has been issued for vice-president Tareq al-Hashimi in Iraq,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney, according to AFP.

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Iraq

Iraqi PM asks MPs to relieve deputy

2011-12-19

[Iran Press TV] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... has asked the parliament to relieve his deputy from his duties over alleged involvement in acts of violence. The decision to sack Deputy Premier Saleh al-Mutlaq came on Saturday amid conflicting reports about a possible warrant for his arrest. Mutlaq is reportedly accused of involvement in a spate of violence that has gripped the Iraqi capital in recent months. The official is a member of the largely secular al-Iraqiya bloc, headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. ... Iraqi politician, interim Prime Minister prior to Iraq's 2005 legislative elections. A former Ba'athist, Allawi helped found the Iraqi National Accord, which today is an active political party. He survived liquidation attempts in 1978, in 2004, and on April 20, 2005. One of these days he won't... The coalition had earlier in the day suspended its participation in parliament in protest at what it described as Maliki's efforts to monopolize decision-making. Al-Iraqiya, which failed to secure the absolute majority needed for naming a new government despite winning the most seats in the March 7, 2010 elections, had been in a power-sharing deal with al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance. The power-sharing deal came after an eight-month political deadlock, with an eventual agreement keeping Maliki in office for another term, with Jalal Talabani from the Kurdish alliance reinstated as president.

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Iraq

Deputy premier meets Iranian Ambassador

2011-01-05

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq discussed on Tuesday with Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaie ways of doing as the Iranians tell him to do boosting bilateral ties, according to an official statement. “Al-Mutlaq received the diplomat at his office in Baghdad, with whom he underlined Iraq’s desire not to be invaded in the near future to foster relations with its neighbors and to stop Iranian meddling open new cooperation horizons in security, economic and diplomatic fields,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. For his part, the Iranian ambassador stressed the importance of Iraq doing as it is told boosting relations between Baghdad and Tehran in commercial, service and tourism sectors.

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Iraq

Deputy PM reiterates U.S. role’s support for Iraq

2010-12-30

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq’s new Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq, has reiterated in a reception given to the Commander of the U.S. Forces in Iraq, General LLoyd Austin on Thursday, the significance of continuation of the technical role of the U.S. forces, to raise the potentials of the Iraqi security forces to impose their control on the security situation in the country. A statement, issued by the Council of Ministers, copy of which landed in Aswat al-Iraq news agency, quoted Mutlaq as saying during his reception of General Austin and a number of high-ranking U.S. Army officers as having reiterated “the signifcance of the continuation by the American side to render technical sppport in order to raise the potentials of the Iraqi security forces, to enable them control the security situation in the country, in prelude to the complete withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Iraq.” “We are striving to build a new and strong Iraq, possessing security forces that cope with its regional and international bulk, that will actively share in boosting the platform of security and stability for its people and the whole Region,” Mutlaq said. "Please don't abandon us to those crazy Persians!" General Austin, on his part, expressed the U.S. firmness to “implement the Security Agreement concluded between Washington and Baghdad, and to withdraw the American troops from Iraq, in to their scheduled time.”

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Iraq

Iraq lifts ban on Sunni politicians

2010-12-19

[Al Jazeera] Iraq's parliament has lifted a ban on three Sunni Mohammedan politicians who had been kept from running in national elections because of accusations they had ties to Saddam Hussein's ousted government. Parliament voted 109-61 on Saturday to allow Saleh al-Mutlaq, a former legislator of the cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition, and two others to return to political jobs. Haidar al-Mullah, an Iraqiya front man, said the decision marked a major step toward assuring Sunnis that they will not be sidelined in the new Shia-dominated government which Nouri al-Maliki plans to announce on Monday. "What has happened today is the starting point for more national reconciliation," al-Mullah said. Al Jizz's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Storied Baghdad, described the move as an "appeasement" to Sunni politicians and said it should enable al-Maliki to speed up the process of forming the government. "We understand that his [al-Maliki's] longstanding rival, the former prime minister Iyad Allawi, had said on Friday he's agreed to be part of the government, on condition that actually they become real partners," she said. "It seems that all the main hurdles for now have been overcome but you never know, in Iraqi politics everything can change in the 11th hour." Al-Mutlaq, who is a vocal al-Maliki critic, was expected to take up a post in the new government. Al-Mutlaq was the most prominent of hundreds of candidates who were barred from the elections after a Shia-led panel said they had been members of Saddam's outlawed Baath Party. The ban was seen by critics as a Shia attempt to monopolise Iraq's government.

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Iraq

Sunni leader decides to take part in Iraq election

2010-02-25

A top Sunni lawmaker, who less than a week ago said he was pulling his party out of the election after he was banned from the race, reversed course on Thursday, saying that his party is back in the race. Saleh al-Mutlaq told reporters he would now allow his party to take part in the vote and called on all Iraqis to participate in the election.

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