, Nuri al-Maliki that his policies will bring "strong hostility" from Iraqi Sunnis.

According to Reuters, the two officials said that the warnings contained in the reports and analysis of secret intelligence services provided in the past two years to officials for policy-making, including U.S. President Barack Obama.

The reports concluded that al-Maliki and his government are causing a great deal of animosity between Iraqi Sunnis and they give strength and encourages to violent militant groups such as Daash or ISIL.

A senior intelligence official who asked for anonymity said that when discussing sensitive information , intelligence agencies warned explicitly that al-Maliki's policies in the past few years have led to "isolate Sunnis and gave the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant “ISIL” an area to work."

The official added that America has warned al-Maliki "from not settling worsening differences " between the two Islamic sects and said that Iraqi officials need to do more to address the growing sectarian tensions.

These statements conflicted with what was announced by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in his annual report to Congress of global threats in January, which included a passing reference to the religious tensions in Iraq.