Region | Iraq
Al Maliki calls for regional meeting on March 10
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki yesterday invited neighbouring countries and world powers to a March 10 meeting in Baghdad, saying he hoped it would help bring reconciliation and support for his government.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 March 1, 2007
- Image Credit: AP
- Iraqis clear the debris after a car bomb explosion in Baghdad.
Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki yesterday invited neighbouring countries and world powers to a March 10 meeting in Baghdad, saying he hoped it would help bring reconciliation and support for his government.
The United States has said it will take part in the meeting that will also be attended by Syria.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Tehran was considering the offer.
US President George W. Bush is sending 21,500 extra troops to Iraq, most to Baghdad, where Iraqi and US patrols and security outposts have been stepped up in a bid to halt sectarian violence that was killing hundreds of people a week.
A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 21 near a vegetable market in Baghdad yesterday, Iraqi police said, as insurgents kept up a campaign of bombings despite the security crackdown.
Al Maliki's office said he had formally sent invitations to the March 10 meeting to neighbouring countries, Egypt, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - as well as the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
"We hope the meeting will bring political backing for the national unity government in providing security and stability that will help national reconciliation in Iraq," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
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