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Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi | Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi |
(40 minutes later) | |
An Iraqi judicial committee has issued an arrest warrant for the mainly Shia Arab country's Sunni Arab Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashemi. | |
The warrant was issued under anti-terrorism laws, interior ministry spokesman Adel Daham said. | |
The decision came after arrested bodyguards of Mr Hashemi reportedly accused him of links to terrorism. | |
He has been banned from leaving Iraq, and is said to be staying in the Kurdish north. | |
State-run television has reportedly aired what it says are confessions by alleged terrorists linked to Mr Hashemi. | |
Maj-Gen Adel Daham told a news conference that confessions by suspects identified as his bodyguards had linked him to killings and attacks on several Iraqi government and security officials, Reuters news agency reports. | |
Mr Hashemi is currently believed to be in Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous enclave in the north, Reuters adds. | |
The move comes the day after US troops withdrew from the country and two days after the al-Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, which represents most of Iraq's Sunni Arab community, withdrew from parliament. | |
They have accused the Shia Arab Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, of monopolising power. | They have accused the Shia Arab Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, of monopolising power. |
The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, earlier called for urgent talks to prevent the "collapse" of the national unity government, warning that "the situation is headed towards deep crisis". |