Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
has asked the parliament to relieve his deputy from his duties over alleged involvement in acts of violence.
The decision to sack Deputy Premier Saleh al-Mutlaq came on Saturday amid conflicting reports about a possible warrant for his arrest.
Mutlaq is reportedly accused of involvement in a spate of violence that has gripped the Iraqi capital in recent months.
The official is a member of the largely secular al-Iraqiya bloc, headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
... Iraqi politician, interim Prime Minister prior to Iraq's 2005 legislative elections. A former Ba'athist, Allawi helped found the Iraqi National Accord, which today is an active political party. He survived liquidation attempts in 1978, in 2004, and on April 20, 2005. One of these days he won't...
The coalition had earlier in the day suspended its participation in parliament in protest at what it described as Maliki's efforts to monopolize decision-making.
Al-Iraqiya, which failed to secure the absolute majority needed for naming a new government despite winning the most seats in the March 7, 2010 elections, had been in a power-sharing deal with al-Maliki's State of Law Alliance.
The power-sharing deal came after an eight-month political deadlock, with an eventual agreement keeping Maliki in office for another term, with Jalal Talabani from the Kurdish alliance reinstated as president.