Baghdad  - An Iraqi tribal leader escaped an assassination attempt Sunday when gunmen attacked his house in the city of Hillah, Iraq security sources said.

Sheikh Fawaz Kamel Ahmed, leader of the al-Massoud tribe, was injured in the attack on his house in Hillah, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Baghdad  - Iraq's national security advisor said Sunday that Baghdad wants to "end the issue" of the People's Mujahedin of Iran group living in the country, a month after President Jalal Talabani said he wanted the group deported.

Muwaffaq al-Rubaie did not explicitly threaten to expel the group, but he demanded that they assist Iraq's security forces.

Iraq's government has been increasing pressure on the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), the largest Iranian opposition group whose main base is the Ashraf refugee camp, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Baghdad - A suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday, killing a policeman and wounding two tribal chief guards in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, according to a police source.

The attack targeted the house of Sheikh Talib al-Hassnawi al- Issawi, head of Albu-Eissa tribe, west of Falluja city, the source told the Voices of Iraq news agency. The two injured Iraqis were guards of al-Issawi.

Baghdad - A leading politician from the Iraqi Islamic Party, part of in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, has been assassinated west of Baghdad, the party announced Thursday.

Faisal Abdallah al-Samrai was among the top leaders of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a descendant of the Iraqi branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and part of al-Maliki's United Iraqi Alliance.

Baghdad - When Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa visited US-controlled Iraq for the first time in 2005, most of the talk was about "not giving up on Iraq as an Arab country."

At that time, many Sunni Arab countries, particularly those allied with the United States, feared a disintegrating Iraq - with its majority Shiite population - would fall under the shadow of an interventionist, revolutionary Shiite Iran, and that the Arab world would be powerless to prevent it.

Baghdad  - Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa on Tuesday said he sees a "prosperous future" for Iraq.

"I feel that there is a big difference in the country since my last visit and the policy of reconciliation has led to increasingly stability," Mussa said.

He was speaking at a press conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, held jointly with Iraqi Prime Minsiter Nuri al-Maliki.

"Hope has emerged for a prosperous future," Mussa added.