BREAKING NEWS

Fugitive Iraq VP leaves Kurdish zone for Qatar

By REUTERS

APRIL 1, 2012 15:47

BAGHDAD - Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, at the center of a political row that has jeopardized Iraq's sectarian balance, left the autonomous northern Kurdish region for Qatar on Sunday, a statement from his office said.

Hashemi, one of the top politicians from the Sunni minority, is accused by Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government of running death squads, a charge he denies. He has been holed up in the Kurdish zone since Baghdad issued an arrest warrant for him in December.

The government includes Kurds and Sunnis under a power sharing deal designed to calm tensions that led to extreme sectarian violence in 2006-07 when thousands of Iraqis were killed.

In a clear defiance to the arrest warrant, Hashemi's office said he had left the country to visit predominantly Sunni Qatar.

"Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi left on Sunday morning ... heading to Doha in the brotherly state of Qatar in accordance with an invitation he received previously," the statement said.

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