Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi is now a wanted man for being a conspirator in the recent Parliament bombing after police issued his arrest warrant late Saturday, media reports say.
The attack took place on Nov. 28 when a car bomb was left in front of the Parliament building in an attempt to kill an Iraqi lawmaker.
Government officials told Al-Arabiya television that there was enough evidence linking al-Hashimi to the attack after authorities obtained confessions from several Islamic Party members.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi have both said they were the intended targets for the bomb attack, according to Al-Jazeera television.
Hashimi is the leader of the Renewal Bloc affiliated with the Al-Iraqiya list.
On Saturday, the Iraqiya coalition, which is supported by secular Iraqis and Sunni Muslims, decided to boycott Parliament. In a released statement, they said the bloc “can no longer remain silent about the way the state is being administered, as it is plunging the country into the unknown,” reported Al-Jazeera.
The warrant comes just two days after U.S. officials announced the formal end to the eight-yearlong war in Iraq in Baghdad, which received little local fanfare.
