Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the new Falluja hospital in the downtown of the city in the presence of several government officials.
Hashemi, who is also the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP); MPs Omar Abdelsattar al-Karbouli and Salman al-Jameeli from the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF); the governor of Anbar, Ma'moun Sami al-Alwani; and the head of the provincial council, Abdelsalam al-Aani attended the ceremony, according to a correspondent for Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI), who was there.
The IIP is one of the three main components of the Sunni IAF, which also includes the Iraqi People's Congress led by Adnan al-Dulaimi and the Iraqi National Dialogue Council, led by MP Khalaf al-Ulayyan.
Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, lies 110 km west of Baghdad.
Anbar is the largest province in Iraq geographically. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Anbar is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Arab.
The name of the province translates "granaries," as this region was the primary entrepôt on the western borders of Lakhmid Kingdom.
The province was known as Dulaim until 1962 when it was changed to Ramadi. In 1976 it was renamed al-Anbar.
(Voices of Iraq)
