Maliki

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton returned fire on Saturday at her Republican rival Jeb Bush's claim that a "premature" US pullout from Iraq fueled the rise of the Islamic State group.

As pressure built up for Nouri al Maliki to step down from the prime minister post in Iraq last month, Iran, his most ardent supporter stayed surprisingly silent as top Iranian officials worked to get him out.

An ever more isolated Nuri al-Maliki again protested his removal as Iraqi prime minister on Wednesday as his former sponsor in Iran publicly endorsed a successor who many in Baghdad hope can halt the advance of Sunni jihadists.

Iraq moved closer to ending Nuri al-Maliki's stubborn grip on power when his own political clan spurned him for another prime minister called to save the country from breakup.

Special forces loyal to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki were deployed in strategic areas of Baghdad on Sunday night after he delivered a tough speech indicating he would not cave in to pressure to drop a bid for a third term, police sources said.

State television is working overtime to persuade Iraqis to help Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki confront an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized wide tracts of the country, but its unifying call has been blunted by his sectarian reputation.

The United States on Thursday threw its weight behind the newly elected president of Iraq, Fuad Masum, and urged him to form a "cohesive government" to help fight Islamic militants.

Iraq's Kurds said on Thursday Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was "hysterical" and not fit to run the country, further dimming the prospect of a new leadership uniting to face jihadist fighters.

Newly elected Iraqi lawmakers convene on Tuesday, under pressure to name a unity government to keep the country from splitting apart after an onslaught by Sunni Islamists who have declared a "caliphate" to rule over all the world's Muslims.

As jihadists storm through the Sunni heartlands of Iraq towards Baghdad, where a Shi'ite government they regard as heretic clings on, they have lifted the veil on deep sectarianism which has also stoked the fires of Syria's civil war and is spilling over into vulnerable mosaic societies such as Lebanon.

Twenty-three detainees were killed during a militant attack on an Iraqi convoy transporting them south of Baghdad on Monday morning, officials said.

U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned top government officials that Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki and his policies were gravely antagonizing his country's Sunni population, two U.S. security officials said on Friday.

Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki, accused by domestic opponents and, increasingly, by once firm American allies of "sectarianism" that has fuelled a Sunni insurgent onslaught, is a political survivor whose time may be up.

France on Friday called for the formation of a unity government in Iraq with or without Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to fight Sunni jihadists advancing towards Baghdad.

Iraqis head to the polls on Wednesday in their first national election since US forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 as Prime Minister Nuri Maliki seeks a third term amid rising violence.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton returned fire on Saturday at her Republican rival Jeb Bush's claim that a "premature" US pullout from Iraq fueled the rise of the Islamic State group.

As pressure built up for Nouri al Maliki to step down from the prime minister post in Iraq last month, Iran, his most ardent supporter stayed surprisingly silent as top Iranian officials worked to get him out.

An ever more isolated Nuri al-Maliki again protested his removal as Iraqi prime minister on Wednesday as his former sponsor in Iran publicly endorsed a successor who many in Baghdad hope can halt the advance of Sunni jihadists.

Iraq moved closer to ending Nuri al-Maliki's stubborn grip on power when his own political clan spurned him for another prime minister called to save the country from breakup.

Special forces loyal to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki were deployed in strategic areas of Baghdad on Sunday night after he delivered a tough speech indicating he would not cave in to pressure to drop a bid for a third term, police sources said.

State television is working overtime to persuade Iraqis to help Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki confront an al Qaeda offshoot that has seized wide tracts of the country, but its unifying call has been blunted by his sectarian reputation.

The United States on Thursday threw its weight behind the newly elected president of Iraq, Fuad Masum, and urged him to form a "cohesive government" to help fight Islamic militants.

Iraq's Kurds said on Thursday Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was "hysterical" and not fit to run the country, further dimming the prospect of a new leadership uniting to face jihadist fighters.

Newly elected Iraqi lawmakers convene on Tuesday, under pressure to name a unity government to keep the country from splitting apart after an onslaught by Sunni Islamists who have declared a "caliphate" to rule over all the world's Muslims.

As jihadists storm through the Sunni heartlands of Iraq towards Baghdad, where a Shi'ite government they regard as heretic clings on, they have lifted the veil on deep sectarianism which has also stoked the fires of Syria's civil war and is spilling over into vulnerable mosaic societies such as Lebanon.

Twenty-three detainees were killed during a militant attack on an Iraqi convoy transporting them south of Baghdad on Monday morning, officials said.

U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned top government officials that Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki and his policies were gravely antagonizing his country's Sunni population, two U.S. security officials said on Friday.

Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki, accused by domestic opponents and, increasingly, by once firm American allies of "sectarianism" that has fuelled a Sunni insurgent onslaught, is a political survivor whose time may be up.

France on Friday called for the formation of a unity government in Iraq with or without Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to fight Sunni jihadists advancing towards Baghdad.

Iraqis head to the polls on Wednesday in their first national election since US forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 as Prime Minister Nuri Maliki seeks a third term amid rising violence.