Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s tribe has called for the country’s fugitive vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, to be handed over to Baghdad for trial.

“On Friday, 120 members of Talabani’s tribe met in Sulaimaniyah province and agreed to call on officials in Baghdad and Kurdistan to hand Hashemi over to justice,” a member of the tribe, Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahid Talabani, said on Saturday.

Hashemi, a Sunni, has been charged with running a death squad and has taken asylum in Talabani’s native Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq, since December.

According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, 16 of Hashemi’s guards were arrested following confessions by some of their colleagues and they also confessed after being detained.

Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahid Talabani said a delegation from the tribe met with Hashemi’s bodyguards, who had confessed to killing his brother, Judge Najim Talabani, and recounted how they carried out the 2010 assassination.

“We demand that Hashemi be handed over to the court, and the tribe is now convinced that Hashemi’s bodyguards were involved in the assassination of the judge,” he added.

The Iraqi Judiciary has issued an arrest warrant for Hashemi on terrorism charges.

Iraq’s most prominent Shiite cleric has urged politicians to make concessions to solve the country’s ongoing political crisis, an aide to the leader said on Friday.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Ahmed al-Safi, who often speaks for Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, said that the cleric believed that Iraq’s leaders are taking the country “into the unknown.”

“Politicians must work fast and make concessions to solve the crisis,” al-Safi told worshippers during a Friday sermon in the holy city of Karbala.

Ayatollah Sistani normally exerts his considerable influence through sermons and statements made by his aides.

Iraq’s Shiite-led government has been paralyzed for the past two months by a political crisis that erupted after officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on terrorism charges.

Iraq has censured the United States over the use of surveillance drones in the country, saying Washington has to request Baghdad’s permission prior to carrying out such flights.

Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said on Tuesday the US embassy “needs to get the approvals from the Iraqi government for any sort of surveillance which is needed.”

On Monday, US President Barack Obama said, “The truth of the matter is we are not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside of Iraq. There is some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected.”

However, Iraqi officials have strongly opposed the US drone flights in the country.

Dabbagh said Washington has made “no request till now” regarding the flights.

According to a report published by the New York Times on Sunday, about 5,000 private contractors are now in Iraq to “protect the (US) embassy’s staff.”

The US drone issue in Iraq comes a few weeks after the last US military base was handed over to Iraqi officials on December 16, 2011.

The US State Department is considering to “field unarmed surveillance drones in the future” in other countries including “Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan” after the withdrawal of US troops “in the next two years,” the New York

Washington’s unauthorized surveillance drone operations in Iraq have prompted outrage among senior Iraqi officials and the public.

Iraqis say the US must respect the country’s sovereignty and consult with the Baghdad government before carrying out any operation now that “the war is over.”

But Iraqi officials say they have never been consulted by the US about the drone operations and that despite the official US withdrawal from Iraq, it maintains a strong presence in the country.

According to The New York Times, the State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis to help protect the US Embassy, consulates and American personnel and that stepped up their use after the last US troops left the country in December.

The daily said that since getting the approval for using surveillance drone aircraft over Iraq might be hard given the political tensions between the two countries, the US continues drone operations in the country without formal approval from Iraq.

It added that Washington plans to take bids for the management of drone operations in Iraq over the next five years.

Attending a conference in the capital Baghdad on Saturday, Iraqi officials said that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Bahrain.

Bahraini forces have clamped down on protests with the help of Saudi troops who invaded the Arab country in March 2011 to intensify the crackdown.

“The Bahraini people are facing injustice and oppression. We have to show support for the bravery of the protesters in facing the brutality of the Saudi forces,” Iraqi tribal leader Hatem Shaalan Abu Al Joun told Press TV.

An Iraqi cleric also described the Saudi intervention in Bahrain as a clear violation of international conventions and condemned the silence of the Arab League over the crimes against protesters.

“The history of the Arab League is well known. The US is now running the Arab League to implement its plans in the region,” Iraqi cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Baldawi said.

An Iraqi official also said that the international community has to take serious steps regarding the situation in Bahrain.

“The crisis in Bahrain is representing the failure of the Bahraini regime and the brutality of Saudi forces and the world should show a reaction in this regard,” said Kamel al-Kilani, from Iraqi National Alliance.

Bahrain has been the scene of anti-regime protests since mid-February 2011.

More than 100,000 pilgrims have traveled to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq to be in the city on the demise anniversary of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH).

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – More than five million pilgrims from different cities of Iraq and more than 100,000 pilgrims from other countries have traveled to the holy city of Najaf to commemorate the demise anniversary of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH).

Najaf’s governor Adnan al-Zarfi declared the success of the security plan for the ceremonies for the pilgrimage marking the demise of the holy Prophet of Islam, held in Najaf.

Head of the committee Lewi Al-Yasseri said the pilgrims are from different Arab and non-Arab countries, adding that preparations have been made for accommodating and serving the pilgrims.

He said a special ceremony was held in the mausoleum of Imam Ali (AS) in Najaf on Sunday due to the demise anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Iraqi security sources said here that the result of the suicide bomber reached to 64 martyrs and more than 140 wounded, most of them were women and children.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Iraqi security sources said here that the result of the suicide bomber reached to 64 martyrs and more than 140 wounded, most of them were women and children.

The source told that the explosion was targeted against the Shi’a pilgrims who were visiting Al-Khatwa mosque, 18 km west of Basra.

The pilgrims in Basra are divided into two groups, the first head for Kerbela, but the weaker ones walk to this mosque.

Basra, center of the province, lies 590 km south of the capital, Baghdad.

A mosque and a police building have been targeted by a series of bombing attacks and shootings in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, police say.

Four car bombs targeted the Dawlah Kabir mosque in central Ramadi on Sunday.

Two other bomb blasts hit the police building, at which point gunmen stormed the facility triggering clashes. Clashes are still happening.

The number of casualties was not immediately clear.

On Saturday, over 50 people were killed and nearly 100 others injured in a bomb explosion that targeted Shia pilgrims in the southern city of Basra.

Iraq has witnessed many bomb attacks since the beginning of 2012, particularly after the government issued an arrest warrant for the country’s Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges of running a hit squad.

Arbaeen marks the culmination of a 40-day mourning period after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Hussein, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third Shia Imam.

Over the past days, large crowds of Shia mourners from various countries have arrived in Imam Hussein’s shrine in Karbala.

Tight security measures were put in place with a large number of security forces deployed in Iraq’s holy sites in preparation for the occasion.

The Iraqi defense and interior ministries have deployed 35,000 security forces to secure the roads for the pilgrims.

Despite the recent spate of terrorist attacks which targeted pilgrims in different parts of Baghdad, many pilgrims kept walking from their hometowns to Karbala.

The local government of Karbala said that security preparations have been made since ten days ago to prevent new terrorist attacks against the pilgrims.

At least 50 people have been killed and nearly 100 others injured in a bomb explosion that targeted Shia pilgrims in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, Iraqi police say.

The bomb exploded on Saturday when a crowd of Shia pilgrims gathered on the outskirts of the city to commemorate Arbaeen.

Arbaeen marks the culmination of a 40-day mourning period after the anniversary of the martyrdom of Hussein, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the third Shia Imam.

Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene as rescue workers and medics were trying to evacuate the victims to nearby medical centers.

Over the past days, large crowds of Shia mourners from various countries have arrived in Karbala.

Despite the recent spate of terrorist attacks which targeted pilgrims in different parts of Baghdad, many people kept walking from their hometowns to Karbala.

In recent weeks, scores of people have been killed in bomb attacks targeting Shia Muslims.

The deadliest attack took place on January 5, in which more than 70 people lost their lives in blasts in Baghdad and southern Iraq.