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Iraqi PM visits insurgency hotbed | Iraqi PM visits insurgency hotbed |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has made an unannounced visit to Ramadi, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. | Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has made an unannounced visit to Ramadi, a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. |
It is the first visit as prime minister by Mr Maliki, a Shia Muslim, to Iraq's western, mostly-Sunni Anbar province, and is being seen as highly symbolic. | It is the first visit as prime minister by Mr Maliki, a Shia Muslim, to Iraq's western, mostly-Sunni Anbar province, and is being seen as highly symbolic. |
He met Ramadi's provincial governor, as well as local tribal leaders and US and Iraqi military commanders. | He met Ramadi's provincial governor, as well as local tribal leaders and US and Iraqi military commanders. |
Mr Maliki has said he wants to promote reconciliation between the minority Sunni community and the Shia community. | Mr Maliki has said he wants to promote reconciliation between the minority Sunni community and the Shia community. |
"I love this province and I'm proud that it's part of Iraq," he said after meeting Anbar governor Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani. | |
"I haven't been to Ramadi since 1976," he told reporters. | |
Mr Maliki said he and Mr al-Alwani had promised to work together to combat the insurgency. | |
The two met in a Saddam-era palace inside a US and Iraqi army base. | |
Ramadi has seen much heavy fighting between insurgents and US and Iraqi security forces. | |
It is the capital of Anbar province, a large area stretching from west of Baghdad to Iraq's borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. | |
Last September, tribal chiefs from the so-called Sunni Triangle met in Ramadi and agreed to join forces to fight al-Qaeda. But the agreement has not stopped attacks on civilians and security forces in the area. | |
Mr Maliki's visit comes as thousands of additional US and Iraqi troops conduct a security sweep through Baghdad trying to quell insurgent and militia violence. | |
President Jalal Talabani is to return to Iraq on Wednesday from Amman, Jordan, where he has been recovering from exhaustion after being rushed to hospital for tests on 25 February. |