Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday accused the northern autonomous Kurdish region of hosting jihadists spearheading an offensive that has overrun swathes of territory and sparked Iraq's worst crisis in years, Al Arabiya reported.
"Honestly, we cannot be silent over this and we cannot be silent over Arbil being a headquarters for ISIS, and Baath, and al-Qaeda and terrorist operations," Maliki said in his weekly televised address.
Maliki's relationship with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani has deteriorated amid the sectarian insurgency that has threatened to split the country. Many Sunni Muslims who fled the northern city of Mosul during the militants' offensive have ended up in Arbil.