The Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said on Thursday that deployment came after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area, leaving Saudi Arabia’s 800-kilometer (500-mile) border with Iraq unprotected.
Iraq’s military spokesman Qassim Ata al-Mausawi rejects the claim. He said the news was “bogus” and falsely claimed by the “hostile mass media” to bring down “the morale of our people and our troops.”
“We confirm that the security forces are still there on the border strip between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The border strip is completely under the control of our troops,'' he added.
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has ordered all necessary measures to protect the oil-rich kingdom against potential "terrorist threats."
On June 10, the ISIL Takfiri militants gained control of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s Nineveh Province, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to other Iraqi cities.
However, their advance has been slowed down as Iraqi military forces and volunteer fighters have begun engaging them on several fronts.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.
BA/BA