Iraqi vice president may try to flee

The Iraqi Interior Ministry says Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi is likely to flee Iraq from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. The interior ministry issued a statement on Sunday and said it had “reliable information” on the matter. The ministry also “requested that the interior ministry of the Kurdistan regional government carry out the arrest warrant issued against him (Hashemi) and hand him over to judicial authorities,” according to the Sunday statement. Hashemi is accused of involvement in bomb attacks against government and security officials over the past years, including a November 2011 car bombing in the capital Baghdad that apparently targeted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. On December 19, 2011, an investigative committee within the Iraqi Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Hashemi after three of his bodyguards made confessions of taking orders from him to carry out the terrorist attacks. Hashemi later fled to the Kurdistan region. This is not the first time Baghdad demands authorities in the Kurdistan region hand over the fugitive vice president. The Iraqi government also made an official demand in January. Hashemi denies the accusations and has called for the referral of his case to the Kurdistan region, but Iraq’s judiciary has rejected his request.