(BRUSSELS) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Wednesday he was more confident than ever of defeating Al-Qaeda and its allies, the day after a wave of attacks left over 60 people dead.

"We are determined to defeat terrorism," the Iraqi leader told the European parliament's foreign affairs committee during a visit to Brussels.

He also gave an implicit warning to Iran, suspected of supporting extremist groups operating in Iraq.

"We call on neighbouring countries to dry up the roots of terrorism and prevent the terrorists from filtering into Iraq," Maliki said.

"We are taking all possible measures to tackle interfering foreigners" in Iraq and "we oppose all interference from neighbouring countries", he said.

The Iraqi leader declared "we are more confident than ever that we are close to a definitive victory over Al-Qaeda and its lawless allies."

Maliki said the jihadist movement was in a state of "total isolation" in Iraq and was seeking "refuge beyond the borders" in neighbouring nations, which he urged to do everything possible to stop them from infiltrating.

On Tuesday a spate of bombings across Iraq, which the US military blamed on Al-Qaeda, and a fresh surge of fighting between Shiite militiamen and US forces in Baghdad killed at least 62 people.

A car bomb outside a courthouse in the central city of Baquba, a stronghold of the jihadists, killed at least 40 people and wounded 80 in the most devastating attack in the violence-wracked country in a month, police said.

It was the deadliest attack in Iraq since March 17 when 52 were killed in the Shiite town of Kerbala, south of Baghdad.

The United States holds Iran responsible for a large part of the violence in Iraq through support of extremist groups.

General David Petraeus, the top US military commander in Iraq, recently described Iranian-armed militias as currently "the biggest threat to internal order" in Iraq.

US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker has stressed that the United States does not want "a proxy war with Iran inside Iraq". US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday confirmed concern at Iranian actions but said the chances of the United States "stumbling" into a confrontation with Iran through skirmishes in Iraq "are very low."

The defense secretary noted that a recent government offensive against Shiite militias in the southern Iraqi city of Basra had revealed "the level of Iranian malign influence in the south and on their economic heart line through Basra."

Maliki justified recent military intervention in Basra saying "all those who kill and torture Iraqis will become subject of a very tough attitude on our part".

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