Iraq's Al-Sadr Orders Shi'ite Fighters to Stop Fighting Iraqi Govt. Forces
By VOA News
30 March 2008
Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army militia fighters to withdraw from street battles with Iraqi government and coalition forces.
The fighting has killed more than 250 people since Tuesday in Iraq's southern city of Basra, Baghdad, and other mainly Shi'ite areas.
A statement released Sunday by al-Sadr's office in the Iraqi city of Najaf says he issued the order because he feels a responsibility to stop the shedding of Iraqi blood.
Al-Sadr also urged Iraq's government to stop what he calls "random" arrest raids against his followers and grant them an amnesty.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki welcomed al-Sadr's statement as a step in the right direction, expressing hope it will contribute to stability.
Mr. Maliki also says the government's offensive in Basra is not aimed at al-Sadr's movement or any other political or religious group.
Mr. Maliki launched the operation against Shi'ite militiamen in Basra Tuesday, and the fighting quickly spread to Baghdad and other regions.
An Iraqi government spokesman says Iraqi forces will continue fighting what he calls "criminal" elements in Basra who do not follow al-Sadr's cease-fire order.
In violence today, several mortars or rockets landed in Baghdad's Karradah district, killing at least three people.
North of the capital, a suicide car bomber killed five U.S.-allied Iraqi security volunteers at a checkpoint, in Siniya, while gunmen in Dhuluiyah killed five Iraqi policemen.
Elsewhere, gunmen killed two Iraqi policemen in the northern city of Mosul. Insurgents also killed two bodyguards of a provincial council chief in the northern province of Diyala.
And the U.S. military says U.S. helicopter strikes killed 14 insurgents today in several battles in Baghdad.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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