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.

Ankara - The Turkish Air Force continued bombing raids on suspected Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq carrying out on Friday night their sixth attack in a week, the General Staff announced on Saturday.

According to a short statement posted its official website, the General Staff said 31 targets just over the Turkish border were hit during the raids on Friday night during the bombing raids.

The statement said the only aim of the raids were Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) targets and that precautions were taken not to harm civilians in the Hakurk region.

The attacks are the sixth since a PKK attack on a military border post last week left 17 soldiers and 23 PKK separatists dead.

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.

Ankara - Turkish war planes backed by artillery on Thursday night conducted attacks on a large group of Kurdish separatists inside northern Iraq, the Turkish military announced on Friday.

A Turkish General Staff spokesman said the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) group were attempting to cross into Turkey where they planned to carry out attacks on Turkish targets. A large number of the PKK group were killed in Thursday night's bombardments, the spokesman said.

The attacks come almost a week after a PKK attack on a military border post left 17 soldiers and 23 PKK separatists dead.

Baghdad- A high-ranking member of an Iraqi tribal police group died Thursday, along with his wife and two daughters, when their mini-bus was bombed, police sources told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

The victim was a commander of one of the tribal police groups known as "Awakening Councils." These US-backed Sunni units were formed to fight militants from the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq.