Baghdad  - Iraq's senior Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani met with a high-profile Turkish delegation on Tuesday in Baghdad, the first direct talks between the two sides in four years.

During the meeting at Barzani's house in Baghdad, the two sides discussed bilateral relations and ways to stabilize them, the website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan reported.

The delegation, headed by Turkey's special envoy for Iraq Murat Ozcelik, also discussed with Barzani the developments of conflicts that take place on the Kurdish-Turkish borders.

Baghdad - An Iraqi Sunni MP Tuesday accused Kurdish militias of being responsible for the recent campaign against the Christian community in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that has driven hundreds of families from their homes.

"The Kurdish militias - and not al-Qaeda militants - are behind the attacks against Christians," Osama al-Najifi, a native of Mosul himself, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Baghdad - Two Iraqi Christians were killed on Sunday in the city of Mosul after hundreds of Christians fled the city, a police source said Monday.

Unknown gunmen broke into a shop in an eastern district of Mosul and killed the shop's Christian owner and injured another shop assistant, the police source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

In another incident, gunmen shot a Christian man dead after they raided his house north-east of Mosul.

Around 300 Christian families are believed to have fled the city since last week.

Baghdad, Oct 13: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the British forces to leave the country as they were no longer needed to maintain security there. He also criticised a “secret deal” made last year by Britain with the al-Mahdi Army, Iraq’s largest Shia militia, saying that Basra had been left at the mercy of militiamen who “cut the throats of women and children” after the British withdrawal from the city.

“We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control. There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues, but as a fighting force, I don’t think that is necessary,” timesonline. com quoted al-Maliki as saying in an interview.

Baghdad- The Iraqi Council for Minorities (ICM) on Saturday called on political powers in Iraq to take urgent and extraordinary measures to protect Christians in the northern city of Mosul.

The call comes amid reports that hundreds of Christians are fleeing the city after what appears to be a string of murderous attacks that are targeting them.

An Iraqi military source said that four Christians were killed on Friday in two separate attacks in Mosul, documenting a rising wave of attacks against the religious minority in the volatile northern city.

Baghdad- At least 50 Christian families fled the Northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday after a wave of killings targeting the Iraqi minority, a security source said on Friday.

"Some 25 families fled Mosul on Wednesday followed by 50 families on Thursday for the fear of being targeted by armed groups," a local security source told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.