SOURCE: VOA
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for international support to help cut off networks aiding extremists in his war-torn country.
In a statement at a regional security conference in Baghdad Saturday, Mr. Maliki warned that mounting terrorism and sectarian violence inside Iraq could spread across the Middle East.
Also speaking at the landmark conference, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad urged all of Iraq's neighbors to do more to stop the violence in Iraq. He said no country represented at the negotiations will benefit from a disintegrated Iraq.
The one-day meeting included delegates from all five members of the U.N. Security Council, along with many Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Syria.
Following the working sessions, Ambassador Khalilzad said discussions with Iran and others at the meeting were constructive, business-like and aimed at solving the problems inside Iraq. He said a future meeting of concerned countries is to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in the near future.
Two blasts occurred near the meeting site. Officials say at least 18 people were killed and scores of others wounded when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives in Baghdad's predominantly Shi'ite district of Sadr City.
In other developments, Iraqi officials have confirmed that a senior al-Qaida leader was arrested Friday, but they say he is not Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of an al Qaida-linked group called Islamic State of Iraq. Earlier news reports said Baghdadi had been captured in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad.
Lübnan Marunîleri / Yasin Atlıoğlu
