Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite government of waging a systematic campaign against Sunni Arabs in Iraq.

In an interview with the pan-Arab al-Jazeera network aired late on Wednesday, Hashemi said the accusations against him of running a death squad "have a sectarian dimension," noting that he is the "fifth Sunni figure to be targeted" by Iraq's Shiite-led government.

The Gulf state of Qatar rejects Iraq's demand to hand over fugitive Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Khaled al-Attiyah told reporters on Tuesday.

"Diplomatic norms and the post of Hashemi prevent Qatar from doing such a thing," he said when asked about Baghdad's request to hand over the Sunni leader, who is accused of running a death squad.

Afghanistan's foreign minister is to visit Qatar, where the Taliban are due to open an office ahead of possible peace talks, a spokesman for the ministry in Kabul said Monday.

Zalmai Rassoul will meet Qatari officials "to discuss reconciliation and talks with the Taliban", the spokesman said.

Iraq on Monday said Qatar's welcoming of Baghdad's fugitive Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was "unacceptable" and called on Doha to hand him over.

However, al-Hashimi rejected Baghdad’s demand, saying he enjoys constitutional immunity and has not been convicted.

Iraq's fugitive Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi left Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region for Qatar on Sunday, a statement from his office said.

Hashemi "left the Kurdistan region of Iraq this morning, Sunday, going to Doha in the brother state of Qatar," accepting an invitation he had previously received, the statement emailed to AFP said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will not fall and attempts to overthrow it by force will aggravate the crisis in the region, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Sunday.

"It has been one year and the regime did not fall, and it will not fall, and why should it fall?" Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday that influential Qatar-based Sunni Muslim cleric Yousuf al-Qaradawi was not welcome in France.

Egyptian-born Qaradawi, 86, has been invited to visit next month by the Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF).

The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East heads to Sanaa on Sunday to meet senior government officials and activists amid a political transition after longtime ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down.

Syria said Sunday that two deadly bomb blasts in Damascus were aimed at sabotaging peace efforts, as U.N. experts prepared to join a government-led humanitarian mission to devastated protest hubs.

"Yesterday's explosions were carried out by terrorists supported by foreign powers which finance and arm them," charged Al-Baath newspaper, mouthpiece of Syria's ruling party of the same name.

Iraq's deputy foreign minister voiced support on Saturday for the idea of peacekeeping forces manned exclusively by Arab League troops but stopped short of backing a Qatari proposal to deploy one in Syria.

Labid Abbawi's remarks come ahead of an Arab summit due in Baghdad on March 29, the first meeting of the 22-nation bloc in the Iraqi capital since the late dictator Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.