By KUNA,
Baghdad : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki on the necessity of pressing ahead with the state crackdown on militia groups.
Al-Maliki, speaking at the meeting with Rice here Sunday, said the recent operations against the gunmen in Basra constituted a major blow to the outlaws and reflected the government’s determination to fight the militias “whose presence neither serves Iraq nor the future of the whole region.”
He said that the recent mop-up operation was carried out in the shadow of national solidarity, and that the authorities were poised for a showdown with the militiamen in the northern city of Mosul, indicating that an identical operation would be carried out there in the coming days.
Rice, for her part, reaffirmed Washington’s unwavering support for Al-Maliki’s leadership.
The US Secretary of State, who arrived here early Sunday on a surprise visit, is due to proceed to Bahrain before visiting Kuwait to take part in the scheduled conference for states neighbouring Iraq, scheduled to open on Tuesday.