Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi attended on Wednesday the funeral ceremony of one of his top bodyguards, who was killed in clashes with the Shiite militia of Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades) earlier on Tuesday.

In a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Alghad Press, the Iraqi defense ministry said, “Brig. Gen. Sherif Ismail el-Morshedy, the commander of the 57th brigade of Abadi’s protection service, breathed his last while on duty after undisciplined personnel shot him dead near a central checkpoint in Samarra.”

Abadi offered condolences to the martyr’s family and ordered a probe to be opened into his death.

He also praised sacrifices made by the late commander in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

According to the statement, the funeral ceremony was held at the defense ministry’s headquarters in the presence of Defense Minister Erfan al-Hiyali.

Commenting on the incident, Saraya al-Salam blamed Abadi’s guards for the death of Morshedy after they attacked its personnel deployed at a security checkpoint between Samarra and Tikrit in Salahuddin.

In December, Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Sadrist Movement, announced disbanding Saraya al-Salam brigade, urging the members to evacuate its headquarters and turn in their weapons to the government.

The brigade took part in the summer of 2014 in the liberation of Salahuddin and Samarra from Islamic State militants.







</s>Baku. 2 June. REPORT.AZ/ Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that the international coalition is not supporting enough his country in the fight against radical group "Islamic State", Report informs referring to Russian RIA Novosti.

"Support from the air is not enough, intelligence is very little supervision. Militants of "Islamic state "are mobile and they move in small groups. It is not enough", said al-Abadi.

Speech by Al-Abadi was held on the eve of an international conference on the fight against "Islamic state", which will be held in Paris on Tuesday.

During his speech, the Iraqi prime minister said the number of foreign citizens among the militants of IG is growing.

"Previously, the share of the Iraqi insurgents was about 58% against 42% foreigners.Today, the proportion changed - 60% of foreign fighters and 40% of Iraqis", said al-Abadi.</s>Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul on Monday (July 10) as only a few dozen militants put up resistance after 9 months of gruelling urban warfare.</s>President Donald Trump held a meeting on Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to focus on the Islamic State Group. He told the group "nobody" can figure out why President Barack Obama signed an agreement with Iran. (March 20)</s>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May met with her Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad on Wednesday, an Iraqi government spokesman said, her first visit to Iraq since coming to power last year.

 Britain is a main partner in the U.S.-led coalition helping Iraq defeat Islamic State, the hardline Sunni group that overran about a third of Iraq in 2014.

 The British government said in September that there were around 600 British soldiers on the ground in Iraq. 

 They are primarily involved in training Iraqi security forces in battle-winning infantry, engineering and combat medical techniques, as well as providing courses on other skills including countering improvised explosive devices.

 Britain provided over 1,400 military personnel as part of its three-year involvement in the U.S.-led coalition.

 "Iraqi-British relations are witnessing a marked improvement. We thank the British government for its support of Iraq in all fields, chiefly cooperation against terrorism, air support, and intelligence," Abadi said in a news conference.

 Britain had also helped Iraq on the issue of those who were internally displaced as a result of the Islamic State takeover and the subsequent campaign by Iraqi forces to dislodge the militants, he said.

 "We will continue to support Iraq as a partner in order to enforce security, building, and stability, as well as in training Iraqi forces and efforts to return the displaced," Abadi's office quoted May as saying.

 The two leaders discussed British investments in Iraq. May pledged in a news conference to provide 20 million pounds ($26.8 million) in support of human rights and 30 million towards stabilization efforts and reforms.

 Britain agreed in March to arrange 10 billion pounds in loans to finance infrastructure projects in Iraq over a 10 year period, a program that would only benefit British companies.

 May "affirmed her support for Iraq's unity" and called on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to "respect a united Iraq in all fields," Abadi's office said in a statement.

 She said in a news conference, through a translator, that she wanted to see "a united and inclusive Iraq".

 Iraq's Kurds voted overwhelmingly to break away from Iraq in a Sept. 25 referendum, defying the central government in Baghdad and alarming neighboring Turkey and Iran who have their own Kurdish minorities.

 The Iraqi government responded by seizing the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk and other territory disputed between the Kurds and the central government. It also banned direct flights to Kurdistan and demanded control over border crossings.

 Long-serving Kurdish president Masoud Barzani stepped down over the affair and the regional government led by his nephew Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has tried to negotiate an end to the confrontation.

 A KRG spokesman told Reuters there were no plans for May to visit the region's capital Erbil.

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 (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Additional reporting by William James in London and Raya Jalabi in Erbil; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)</s>PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An Iraqi national who sent a phony letter to the prime minister of Iraq has been sentenced to two years on probation.

Wathiq al-Ibraheemi falsely claimed to be a U.S. intelligence official in the November 2015 letter to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. He pleaded guilty in January to unauthorized use of an official insignia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel says the note suggesting the prime minister replace the country’s intelligence chief with another man reached the highest levels of Iraqi government before it was turned over to the U.S. officials.

The Beaverton, Oregon, resident was expected to get one year of probation at Tuesday’s sentencing, but got another year after it was discovered that he or someone he knows falsely altered a news article about his guilty plea.

He served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq before immigrating.</s>Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraqi security forces foiled on Wednesday a plot by Islamic State (IS) militants to detonate an ancient citadel in Tal Afar district in Nineveh, a security official was quoted as saying.

“A force from the Nineveh Operation Command found four barrels filled with the highly explosive C4 material, 10 explosive belts and 100 mortar shells placed under Tal Afar Citadel in Nineveh,” Yehia Rasool, a spokesman for the Security Media Center, told Alforat News.

“Three other explosive barrels, two rockets and 11 landmines were also found on site,” Rasool said, adding that the explosives were planned to be used by IS militants for detonating the ancient citadel.

Tal Afar Citadel is believed to be built by the Ottoman Empire, although it contains remains dating back to the Assyrian period.

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the citadel housed the mayoral, municipal and police headquarters of Tal Afar. It was used as a base by American forces in the Battle of Tal Afar in 2005.

After falling to the militant Islamic State group in June 2014, the citadel was used as a prison for women and girls who were to be forcibly married to ISIL members.

In December 2014, the IS group blew up the city’s northern and western walls, causing extensive damage. The militants also excavated some of the ruins within the citadel, probably to look for antiquities which they could sell. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi attends the funeral of bodyguard Brigadier General Sherif Ismail el-Morshedy, killed in action in Nineveh against Saraya al-Salam.