In a Thursday televised speech, Maliki called on everyone worried about Iraq's future "to take the initiative, and not be silent about those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war."

The current violence in the county, he said, “is an intrigue plotted for Iraq, so we call on the politicians to confront this plot by consolidating brotherhood among them and avoid harming their country.”

“We could build strong country if we would exert our efforts away from the sedition and fighting,” he stressed.

Maliki confirmed “the sedition, if ignited, it will be two-edged sword and harm its igniters.”

The violence began on Tuesday, when security forces came under attack by armed men near the town of Hawijah in northern Iraq, resulting in clashes that left 53 people dead.

The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that erupted more than four months ago.

Meanwhile, the army deployed reinforcements around Sulaiman Bek, and was preparing to storm the Salaheddin provincial town, a day after it was seized by a group of gunmen.

The gunmen swarmed into the town after deadly fighting with the security forces, who pulled back in the face of the offensive as residents, fled.

Local official Shalal Abdul Baban said gunmen were still in complete control of the town but that the army was deploying reinforcements on its outskirts.

The military said the operation in Hawijah that sparked the clashes was aimed at the Naqshbandiya Army, an militants group affiliated with former Iraqi vice-president Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri who served during the rule of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.