- Title: IRAQ: REBEL CLERIC SADR SAYS HE MAY DISBAND MILITIA, FIGHTING LATEST.
- Date: 13th May 2004
- Summary: (W5) NAJAF, IRAQ (MAY 12, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. MV/PAN: REBEL SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR ENTERING HALL AT IMAM ALI SHRINE TO GIVE PRESSER 0.07 2. CUTAWAY OF MEDIA 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) REBEL SHI'ITE CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR, SAYING: "The dissolution of the Mehdi Army depends on the religious authorities and it is a general issue and not a
- Embargoed: 28th May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KERBALA, BAQUBA, BAGHDAD, NAJAF, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA40USDUOCSHPILU309R2BAJABP
- Story Text: Iraq's Sadr defiant but says may disband militia.
The young Iraqi cleric leading a month-old Shi'ite
uprising against U.S. occupation said on Wednesday (May 12)
he was prepared to disband his militia army.
But, with a now familiar ambivalence, Moqtada al-Sadr
also told a rare news conference at Islam's holiest Shi'ite
shrine he would still oppose a U.S.-led occupation he
likened to the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein.
"The dissolution of the Mehdi Army depends on the
religious authorities and it is a general issue and not a
personal one, so If the religious authorities issue an
edict to disband the Mehdi Army then we will disband it. If
not, then it will remain to defend this country and its
sanctity," Sadr said in Najaf's Imam Ali Shrine.
It was hard to separate face-saving bravado from hard
bargaining during the young firebrand's first personal
comment on talks in the holy city of Najaf.
Sadr said the United States had come to Iraq to stay
and was trying to create problems to attract the Iraqi
people's attentions away from the important issues, that is
the end of occupation.
"Unity means the humiliation and the defeat of the
other party, which is the occupiers. The result of our
unity will be the withdrawal of the occupier from Iraq and
here I said again that America entered Iraq to stay and I
urge the Iraqi people not to be indulged in these issues,
which America succeeded to create and concentrate on the
important things," added Sadr.
The cleric did not say whether talks over the past two
days among Shi'ite groups in Najaf had produced an
agreement that could end his uprising. But he praised
efforts by "honest parties" to try to end the crisis and
accused U.S.-led forces of sowing discord.
On Tuesday, the U.S. general commanding forces in the
Najaf region indicated that elements of the Mehdi Army
could be included in a local force which could take over
security in Najaf. But Sadr said the Mehdi Army would not
join such a force until foreign troops left Iraq.
Fresh fighting with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in the
holy city of Kerbala on Wednesday left at least 20
guerrillas dead, the U.S. military said. After a night and
morning of fighting, young men loyal to Sadr were holed up
in a mosque and surrounded by U.S. tanks. There were also
scattered skirmishes elsewhere.
Locals said the fighting erupted on Tuesday (May 11)
evening and raged until about midday on Wednesday, with
members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia holed up in a mosque
and surrounded by U.S. troops backed by tanks and armoured
vehicles.
A senior U.S. officer in Baghdad said 20 to 25
militiamen had been killed and seven American soldiers
wounded. Sadr aides say U.S. spokesmen routinely exaggerate
militia death tolls.
Kerbala health director Faleh al-Hasnawi said at least
four Iraqi civilians had also been killed and 15 wounded in
the fighting in the holy city, 110 km (70 miles) southwest
of Baghdad.
Sadr's militia launched an uprising against occupying
troops last month. U.S. officials vowed to kill or capture
him, but recently backed away from that stance, preferring
to stress they would support a solution worked out by
Iraqis.
In the Iraqi town of Baquba one member of the Iraqi
Civilian Defence Force (ICDC) was killed in a drive by
shooting.
His brother, also a member of the ICDC, was driving
with him and injured in the attack.
The survivor, Soheil Abdullah, said he was driving to
work with his brother, Durai Abdullah, when the attackers
drove their car in front of theirs and started shooting at
them.
Meanwhile, a funeral was held in Baghdad's sprawling
Shi'ite neighbourhood for two civilians killed in shooting
the previous day. Witnesses said the two were standing
outside their home when US soldiers opened fire for no
apparent reason.
A U.S. aircraft bombed the offices of rebel cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr in Sadr City last Monday (May 10),
prompting bands of his militia, the Mehdi army, to fan
across the city and engage in sporadic fighting.
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