Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan has strongly condemned the failed assassination attempt on his Iraqi counterpart Saadun al-Dulaimi west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
“The failure of this [assassination] attempt is a cause for joy.  I [pray] for the progress and development of the Iraqi government and nation as well as the wellbeing of the [acting] Iraqi defense minister,” Dehqan wrote in a message addressed to Dulaimi on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham denounced the terrorist attack against acting Iraqi defense minister, calling on all regional countries to make joint efforts to eradicate terrorism.

On Tuesday, a roadside bomb struck the convoy of Dulaimi as it traveled between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. The Iraqi defense chief escaped unhurt from the attack on his military-escorted motorcade, but two of his guards were injured and a vehicle was damaged.

The attack came after 18 Iraqi military officers were killed in a bomb attack on December 21 near the town of Rutba, situated 390km (240 miles) west of Baghdad.

Commander of the Iraqi Army's Seventh Division, Major General Mohammed al-Karawi, and up to four other officers died in the ambush. As many as 32 soldiers were also wounded.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry said Karawi and high-ranking officers accompanying him were killed while pursuing militants from an al-Qaeda training camp in Iraq’s western province of al-Anbar.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has warned that an anti-government sit-in site in the city of Ramadi in Anbar has become a “headquarters” for al-Qaeda.

“I say clearly and honestly that the sit-in site in Anbar has turned into a headquarters for the leadership of al-Qaeda,” Maliki stated on December 22.

The Iraqi prime minister has called on Iraqi forces to take a “firm stance to end” the sit-in in Ramadi, which is the largest city in Anbar.

By Press TV

 

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