MOSCOW, Nov 30: Russia on Thursday called for an international conference on Iraq, possibly organised by the United Nations, to examine the war-torn country's economic, political and security problems.

“The situation is getting worse in Iraq,” said Anatoli Safonov, President Vladimir Putin's representative for international cooperation against terrorism.

“Terrifying figures about casualties among the civilian population and all forces deployed there are coming in every day,” he was quoted by agencies as saying.

“We would need a conference, maybe within the UN framework, that is to say a large forum to discuss Iraq’s problems,” he said.

The international community needed to work on proposals in the field of economics, politics and “especially security”, he said, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.--AFP