Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday his country faces genocide targeting its people through bombings and militant attacks, as he urged tribes to fight the terrorism of al-Qaeda.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday his country faces genocide targeting its people through bombings and militant attacks, as he urged tribes to fight the terrorism of al-Qaeda.

“Iraq is subjected to a genocide targeting all of its people,” the Iraqi premier said, adding that violence in the country had affected “all [national] components equally.”

Maliki said that Al-Qaeda has resumed its “role in destroying houses, killing citizens and bombing government directorates,” adding, “those who have allied with [Al-Qaeda] have realized that what it wants is to destroy everything that has been built in this country.”

The Iraqi prime minister called on the country’s tribes to step up efforts to “thwart plots aimed at fragmenting national unity, targeting the political process and provoking divisions among Iraqis.”

Maliki said that a unified front has begun to emerge composed of “all [social] components and segments, security apparatuses, tribes and all of the wise, faithful and honorable [people] who have become targets for Al-Qaeda.”

He noted that Baghdad was ready to host an international conference on terrorism, only days before his visit to Washington to discuss the security situation in Iraq.