Probe finds Iraq Vice-President behind death squads

An Iraqi investigation panel says the country’s Vice-President and his employees were behind years of deadly attacks on security officials and Shia pilgrims.

Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar did not offer any evidence on Thursday to back up the panel’s findings.

Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has denied the charges and accuses Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of coordinating a smear campaign to consolidate power.

The independent judicial council appointed the nine-judge investigating committee after the government issued an arrest warrant against Mr. al-Hashemi in December, throwing Iraq’s politics into chaos.

Mr. al-Hashemi is in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, where he has sought refuge from the central government in Baghdad.