Iraq denies withdrawal of forces from Saudi border
Al-Huriya News Agency - Iraqi military officials have denied that troops have abandoned positions along the border with Saudi Arabia.
Interior ministry spokesman Brig Gen Saad Maan told the BBC that the border force was functioning normally. Earlier, al-Arabiya TV reported that Saudi Arabia had deployed 30,000 soldiers along the 900km (560-mile) frontier after Iraqi forces withdrew.
The Saudi personnel were fanning out along the border to prevent attacks by jihadist-led Sunni rebels, it said. On Wednesday, King Abdullah discussed Iraq and the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) with US President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation.
Mr Obama also thanked him for the $500m (£291m) donation to the UN to help it address the humanitarian crisis caused by the insurgency in Iraq.
