Iraq's interim defence minister said yesterday that the government would arrest the Iraqi National Congress leader, Mr Ahmad Chalabi, after the Eid al-Adha holiday on suspicion of maligning the defence ministry.
"We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol. We will arrest him based on facts that he wanted to malign the reputation of the defence ministry and defence minister," Mr Hazim al-Shaalan told Al Jazeera television.
The satellite channel quoted Mr Shaalan as saying Mr Chalabi would be handed to Interpol over his conviction in absentia by a Jordanian court in 1992 of embezzling millions from Petra Bank, whose 1989 collapse shook Jordan's political and financial system.
Mr Chalabi, who founded and ran the bank during a long period when he lived in the country, denies any wrongdoing.
"Our measures will start after Eid," Mr Shalaan said. The Muslim feast began on Thursday and ends tomorrow in most Arab states. Mr Shaalan told the London-based newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat, he would order the arrest after Mr Chalabi accused the defence minister in an interview of stealing $500 million from the ministry and posted documents on a website accusing Mr Shaalan of links to Saddam Hussein's government.
Mr Chalabi, a Shia Muslim politician who is a contender to become Iraq's prime minister after the elections on January 30th, was not immediately available for comment.
A US-appointed judge issued a warrant for Mr Chalabi's arrest last year on charges of counterfeiting money, but the charges were dropped in September.
Mr Chalabi had brought together enemies of Saddam under the umbrella of his Iraqi National Congress and spearheaded attempts by the US-appointed Governing Council to remove members of the Baath party from positions of power.
Meanwhile, a suicide car-bomber killed 14 Shia worshippers as they left a Baghdad mosque yesterday, a Muslim holy day, ratcheting up tension between Iraq's religious communities just nine days before landmark elections.
Another car-bomb exploded in a town just south of the capital, killing and wounding several people in a wedding party, police and survivors said. Survivors of the attack brought to a Baghdad hospital said more than a dozen people may have died.
A group beheaded an Iraqi soldier in broad daylight in the restive rebel town of Ramadi. They left the body in the street with the severed head placed on the torso and a note warning other Iraqi troops to quit.
Militants threatening to kill eight Chinese hostages said in a new videotape they would treat them "mercifully" if China banned all Chinese nationals from entering Iraq.