Iraq PM vows to address 'negligence' after deadly wedding fire

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani promised to tackle the "dereliction of duty and negligence" as he pays his respects to the families of the victims of the wedding hall fire at a church in the town of Qaraqosh.

The disaster hit the town of Qaraqosh, a centre of Iraq's small Christian community in the Nineveh Plains near Mosul. Survivors of a fire that tore through an Iraqi wedding and those mourning the at least 100 lives lost filled the pews for a Christian mass Thursday, two days after the disaster.

Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, who has declared three days of national mourning, travelled to the province  to visit "the injured and the families of the victims", his office said. Sudani demanded "the toughest punishments permitted by law for those responsible for negligence or failings that led to this tragic fire" Authorities have arrested 14 people -- the venue's owner and 10 employees as well as three people suspected of having set off the fireworks, the interior minister said.