Sectarian tensions soar after Sunni is linked with plot to assassinate Shia Prime Minister
The Iraqi government has issued a warrant for the arrest of the Sunni Muslim Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on terrorism charges in a move certain to deepen political turmoil in the country. The authorities claim that Mr Hashemi’s bodyguards confessed under interrogation that they had been involved in killings and attacks. These appear to include what the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says was an attempt to assassinate him three weeks ago when a bomb blew up prematurely in the car park of the Iraqi parliament inside the Green Zone.