Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday, saying that Tehran will attend a conference on Iraq to be held in Egypt later this week, the prime minister's office said.

    Iran "confirmed that it would attend the conference on Iraq in Sharm el-Sheikh at the level of foreign ministers," Maliki's office said in a statement to the media.

    The Iranian president's call came as media reports here said that top Iranian envoy Ali Larijani flew to Baghdad for talks with Iraqi leaders over the coming conference.

    Earlier in the month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that two meetings would be held on May 3 and 4 in Sharmel-Sheikh in Egypt.

    A ministerial meeting on Iraq's security will gather representatives from Iraq's neighboring countries, the five permanent members of UN Security Council and Group of Eight industrialized nations.

    Another international meeting for the International Compact with Iraq, which is a larger group, will be held back to back to the first meeting.