Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki implicitly accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" terrorist group operating in his country on sectarian grounds

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki implicitly accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" terrorist group operating in his country on sectarian grounds.

“Some states do not want ISIL, especially on their territory, but they want ISIL in Iraq for sectarian reasons,” Maliki said in a television interview aired Thursday evening.

“We know the details of ISIL and its foreign ties and the ties of states to it, and the funding that comes to it,” Maliki said.

Fallujah - just a short drive from Baghdad - and shifting parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, to its west, have been held by armed militants since early January.

Maliki said in the interview that except for Fallujah, Anbar province was under government control, though militants in fact hold areas outside the city. Of the situation in Fallujah, he said: "God willing, it will end soon."