An influential Iraqi Sunni Muslim group accused the government on Tuesday of "sponsoring state terrorism" by launching a massive crackdown on insurgents in and around Baghdad which it said mainly targeted the Sunni Arabs.

"The government is sponsoring state terrorism, using its interior ministry to arrest the Sunni Arabs, which is aimed at provoking sectarian tension between Sunni and Shiite Muslims," Sheikh Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, a senior member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, told reporters at its Baghdad headquarters.

He also accused the Iraqi government of lying over the number of detainees during the operation. "The government said it had detained 1,100 people, but the real number is more than double in the mainly Sunni area of Abu Ghraib, east of Fallujah, Doura, Yousifiyah and Latifiyah."

Iraq launched a security offensive named Operation Lightning on May 29 with more than 40,000 members of Iraqi security forces involved to curb insurgency in the capital area.

The offensive came amid a renewed wave of violence in which more than 800 people have been killed across Iraq since a Shiite-led transitional government was formed late April.

The Sunni Arabs, a ruling minority in former Saddam regime, were sidelined after the country's landmark parliamentary elections on Jan. 30.

Source: Xinhua