Maliki Orders Iraqi Troops To Make Stand At Samarra

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Saturday ordered his troops to make a stand against advancing Sunni militants at Samarra, home to a revered Shiite mosque. "Samarra will be the starting point, the gathering station of our troops to cleanse every inch that was desecrated by the footsteps of those traitors," Maliki said in broadcast remarks, CNN reported.