Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Wednesday vowed a tough crackdown on armed militias, following a series of attacks by local insurgents against security personnel and government buildings, dpa reported.
"Today we have the problem of (groups) forming armed militias that must be toughly handled because they will drag us backward," al-Maliki told a tribal rally in the capital Baghdad.
"Anyone involved in setting up militias will be brought to justice, whoever he may be."
Al-Maliki's warning comes amid rising tensions between his Shiite-led government and the Sunni minority.
The death of 53 people in a stand-off between the army and Sunni protesters in northern Kirkuk last week triggered deadly unrest in several parts of the country.
Members of Iraq's Sunni community have for four months been staging mass protests to demand a repeal of laws they say the government is using to target them.
A rise in attacks in recent months have raised fears of a return to the kind of sectarian violence that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.