Iraq on highest alert for terror attacks

Iraq's Prime Minister has put the nation on top alert for terror attacks days before US forces formally end their combat mission in the country.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says Iraq's security forces have information that al Qaeda in Iraq and members of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party are planning attacks. He gave no details.

Al-Maliki said Iraqi troops and police are on the highest alert and asked citizens to be on guard.

The alert was issued days before the August 31 deadline for US forces to end combat operations and transition to primarily training and advising Iraqi troops.

Al-Maliki is locked in a power struggle to keep his job nearly six months after his political party came in second in Iraq's Parliamentary Election.