Arrest warrant issued for Tariq al-Hashimi after state-run television aired alleged confessions by terrorists linked to him

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Iraq's Shia-led government has issued an arrest warrant for the vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, the country's highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges.

The move, a day after the last US troops left Iraq and ended the nearly nine-year war, could signal a sharp escalation in the sectarian tensions that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war a few years ago.

Interior ministry spokesman Adil Daham told reporters about the warrant on Monday and state-run television aired what it said were confessions by terrorists linked to Hashimi.

Since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dominated Ba'ath party regime, the Sunni minority has constantly complained of attempts by the Shia majority to sideline them.

Hashimi is one of the leaders of the Sunni-backed political bloc Iraqiya, which has just withdrawn from parliament to protest against the control of key posts by the Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The boycott decision by Iraqiya, headed by Ayad Allawi, was in response to the government's failure to share more powers, particularly the authorities over the security forces, said Sunni lawmaker Hamid al-Mutlaq, a member of the bloc.

Iraqiya narrowly won the most seats in last year's parliamentary election, but Allawi was outmanoeuvred by Maliki, who kept the premier post after cobbling together key support from Shia parties.

For more than a year now, Maliki has effectively controlled the interior and defence ministries, which oversee the police and military, while conflicts between Sunni and Shia politicians have delayed the appointment of permanent ministers.

The dispute is a reminder that the US left behind an Iraq still riven by sectarian division. The US completed its withdrawal from the country, with the last troops crossing the border into neighbouring Kuwait, early on Sunday.

Al-Mutlaq warned that Iraqiya could take a further step if its demands are not met – pulling its seven ministers out of Maliki's coalition government.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Iraqiya criticised the "unjustified" random arrests conducted by the government's security forces against Sunni areas.