BAGHDAD,(ST)_ Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki stressed that terrorism is a dangerous scourge and must be eradicated and that the region faces a major serious challenge that requires everyone to unite to confront it, warning states destroying Iraq and the countries of the region will face the same fate.
Maliki said in a speech during an Iftar banquet yesterday for a number of security and military leaders that the war on terrorism must be global and called on Arab countries to cooperate in combating and confronting terrorism .
Maliki said that one who wins the battle does not mean overcoming adversity because challenges are great and Iraq is not in isolation from it, stressing that achieving security requires strenuous efforts to maintain the participation of all Iraqis.
He indicated that what happened recently in al-Taji and Abu Ghraib prisons are schemes implemented by third parties aimed at defeating the security man , politician , and the Iraqi people who faced terrorism , calling in this regard the Iraqis to cooperate with the security services and provide information on the movements of terrorist forces so as to make achievements in the area of intelligence information in order to break the backbone of terrorism and terrorists and all those who want bad in Iraq.
He stressed that the recent security setbacks in Iraq does not live up to the collapse and warned neighboring states, that “they are destroying in Iraq and the region and will eventually meet same upcoming destiny ,”
Maliki called on the Iraqi society “to maintain unity away from sectarian discrimination “, stressing that “if they want to export evil to Iraq they should prepare themselves to receive these wicked evils.”
According to UN figures, some 1057 people were killed and 2363 others injured by acts of violence and terrorism that occurred in July in Iraq.
However, figures from the Iraqi Ministries of Defense, Interior and Health showed that 989 people were killed in the country during the same month, representing highest official death toll as a result of violence just in one month since April 2008.
In another context, the Iraqi army destroyed three training camps for al-Qaeda in al-Jazeera area, arrested 33 terrorists and seized large quantities of arms and ammunition.
Moreover, special security forces were able to raid a shelter for al-Qaeda terrorists , arrested 12 terrorists and confiscated a plant for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices and a booby trapped car was dismantled in al-Jazeera area.
T. Fateh