Barely a day after the last of U.S. troops left Baghdad, Iraqi authorities ordered on Monday the arrest of one the country's vice president on charges that he ordered terror activities to destabilise the government.

A warrant of arrest was issued for Sunni Muslim Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, who the government said was behind the killings of government officials and members of Iraq's security forces.

In a news briefing held on Monday, Major General Adel Daham, spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, revealed that confessions obtained from suspected assassins allegedly hired by Hashemi prompted the issuance of the arrest warrant.

"An arrest warrant was issued for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi according to Article 4 of the terrorism law and is signed by five judges ... this warrant should be executed," Daham was reported by Reuters as saying.

In the same briefing, Reuters said that ministry officials played a tape that showed men, said to be attached to Hashemi's office as security personnel, confessing to assassination and road bombings that killed persons working for the government.

The suspects, who government officials refused to identify, had admitted that they were paid by Hashemi to perform the deadly activities.

Local media reports have indicated that Hashemi was not in Baghdad when the court order was issued and is in Kurdistan, located north of Iraq, to meet with the country's president.

However, a statement issued by his office claimed that even before the arrest warrant was release, Hashemi was harassed while attempting to catch a flight as authorities delayed his flight for hours.

The statement also revealed that a number of Hashemi's security escorts have been detained by authorities.

"The vice-president has been very patient and is waiting for a reasonable explanation from the government parties concerned," the vice-president's statement said as reported by Reuters.

The order for Hashemi's arrest came as fears heightened that sectarian rivalries within the coalition government could quickly spiral down into full-blown conflicts in the immediate aftermath of the American withdrawal.

Minority Sunnis have been claiming that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has been manoeuvring to marginalise them, with his tactics, they pointed out, dangerously bordering to authoritarian rule.

Last week, Maliki called on the Parliament to oust one of his deputy prime ministers, Saleh al-Mutlaq, claiming that the Sunni political leader is setting out to contradict the policies of the government.