Meanwhile, Nineveh provincial governor Athiel al-Nujaifi said he would no longer tolerate the presence of the Kurdish militias in Mosul. The presence of the Peshmerga militias as well as members of the Kurdish secret service Asaish 'were having a negative effect on the security situation,' he said.

Following the victory of the al-Nujaifi, an Arab, in the provincial elections in January, Kurdish politicians have threatened to support the annexation of the majority Kurdish province to the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq.

In the city of Hilla, around 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, some 250 demonstrators, including local politicians and Muslim clerics, called for a break of ties with Syria.

The Iraqi government in August claimed that Syria was providing refuge to two Iraqis thought responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in Baghdad.

Syria has responded that Iraq had so far provided no proof of the guilt of the two men, and therefore it will not extradite the suspects.