• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Iraq's Sadr criticizes rival after Shi'ite fighting

Posted on: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 13:54 CDT

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded on Thursday that a rival Islamist leader condemn his own followers over deadly Shi'ite Muslim infighting that rocked the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.

Clashes broke out on Wednesday night between Sadr's armed followers and a crowd who burned down his offices in Najaf, killing eight people.

That sparked violence in Baghdad and Shi'ite towns across southern Iraq, as members of the pro-Sadr Mehdi Army militia attacked offices of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) and its 'Badr' militia. SCIRI is headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a powerful Shi'ite cleric in government.

"I demand that brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim make an official announcement condemning the aggression by his representatives and some extremists," Sadr told a news conference in the city, where police and troops spread out to keep the peace.

"I call upon the Mehdi Army to be calm because anything else will not be in the Iraqi people's interests," he said, thanking Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari for condemning the attack.

Some of his followers were in tears as they inspected Sadr's burnt-out headquarters a short distance from the shrine of Ali, the cousin of Islam's Prophet Mohammed who is revered by Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims.

Only party paperchains hanging from the ceiling escaped the flames. The office saw celebrations earlier this week when it was reopened a year after the Mehdi Army staged an uprising against U.S. forces then controlling the town.

Sadr announced three days mourning over the death of four of his followers and the wounding of 20 in the fighting.

Accounts differed over how Wednesday's violence began. Sadr supporters say a crowd including members of the Badr group stormed the office. Badr movement head Hadi al-Ameri has denied any involvement by the militia, which works with the police.

Witnesses said two rival crowds, one of Sadr supporters and another of Najafi rivals of Sadr, began throwing stones at each other as police stood by.

"What happened made all of us in the city sad. We don't want any more bloodletting in what is supposed to be a city of peace," said shopkeeper Hamoudi Said.

SHI'ITE INFIGHTING

Najaf has been spared most of the violence rocking Baghdad and the center of Iraq where Sunni insurgents are fighting the government and its U.S. backers. But it has not been immune to conflict between Shi'ite factions jockeying for power in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

In an example of how fickle Shi'ite politics can be, Sadr later described the Badr movement as "innocents before God" after Shi'ite leaders had rallied to calm the situation.

Najaf is home to Sadr, Hakim and his supporters, and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a reclusive figure considered Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric. Sadr's powerbase is thought to be in the poor Baghdad district known as Sadr City.

The son of a revered cleric widely believed to have been killed by Saddam Hussein's agents in 1999, Sadr has followed a different path from his Shi'ite peers by refusing a role in government while U.S. troops remain in the country. But three members of the cabinet are Sadr supporters.

At a national level, Shi'ite and Kurdish politicians who dominate government have prepared a draft constitution which minority Sunni Arabs reject, saying it would create a federal state that would lead to the break-up of Iraq.

Sadr also opposes the federalism clauses, while most other Shi'ite groups like SCIRI support it. "Federalism in itself is fine, but it's not a good idea at this present time because there is an occupation," Sadr said on Thursday.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category