MANAMA: The interior ministers of the countries neighboring Iraq have called on Baghdad to form a government as soon as possible and pledged increased cooperation in fighting terrorism.
"The formation of a government representing the different components of Iraqi society is an internal issue to be decided by Iraqi political forces," the ministers said in a statement issued late Wednesday in Bahrain.
But the quick formation of a government is "a national, regional and international need," they said at the end of a meeting.
More than six months after Iraqi legislative elections, negotiations on forming a new government have yet to bear fruit.
"The delay in forming a government is the main cause of recent terrorist attacks in Iraq," the country’s interior minister Jawad Bolani told AFP at the meeting.
In a recent major attack, two near-simultaneous car bombs rocked Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 29 people and wounding 111, AFP journalists and security officials said.
Former premier Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc came first in the March polls by two seats, has accused Iran of interfering in Iraq and of attempting to prevent him from becoming prime minister.
In a speech at the Bahrain meeting, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said: "We are closely following the situation in Iraq and we clearly see gross interference in its internal affairs."
Noting the amount of time that has elapsed since the elections, Prince Nayef said Iraq "has not gone through a worse period."
He also expressed hope that the war-torn nation would soon have a government that "works for the sake of Iraq and strengthens its relationships with neighbouring countries," with all Arab and Islamic states, and with the international community.
The ministers decided to set up a team of experts from attending countries "to review security cooperation among them," according to the statement, and also said they would "exchange information on terrorist activities threatening Iraq and neighbouring countries."
The meeting — the seventh of its kind since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 — was attended by the interior ministers of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain.
