Sadr rejects order to disarm
BAGHDAD — - Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr on Saturday rejected Iraqi government orders for his supporters to disarm, and a round-the-clock curfew in the capital was extended indefinitely as the bloody standoff between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces showed no signs of abating.
Militiamen on rooftops battled Iraqi soldiers and U.S. special forces in the southern city of Basra, where at least 22 "criminal fighters" were killed Saturday, the U.S. military said.
In an interview on Al Jazeera TV, Sadr said Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's U.S.-backed government was worse than the regime of Saddam Hussein, who is believed to have ordered the assassination of Sadr's father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr, in 1999.
Sadr did not renounce a cease-fire he called for his Mahdi Army militia in August, but he said anyone facing foreign occupation had the right to armed resistance.
U.S. warplanes conducted more airstrikes in Basra, where Maliki launched a military offensive against militia fighters Tuesday. Police and hospital reports have indicated that more than 100 people have been killed there.
Maliki and U.S. forces deny that the operation is aimed at Sadr and his supporters, but the cleric rejects that assertion and says his fighters have the right to defend themselves.
The effect has been a virtual collapse of the August truce, which had been credited with helping decrease the level of violence across Iraq and with reducing casualties among U.S. forces.
Three American soldiers have been killed in Baghdad in the last two days, including two whose patrol hit a roadside bomb Saturday in mainly Shiite east Baghdad. Their deaths bring to 4,007 the number of U.S. forces who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to icasualties.org.
In the interview, Sadr, whose whereabouts was not revealed, said his fighters' ultimate goal was to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq. "The majority of the Mahdi Army are under control. They are loyal, obedient and conscious believers," he said.
That was little comfort to Iraqis trapped in Mahdi Army strongholds. Many of them see no difference between Sadr's fighters and the so-called rogue elements said to have broken away from the group.
Whatever they want to call themselves, they are using residential neighborhoods to wage war and putting innocent people in danger, said Satar Mehassin, 37, a clothing store owner who lives in Baghdad's Sadr City district.
- Two killed in rocket attack in south Iraq May 09, 2008
- Muqtada Sadr orders followers to end fighting Mar 31, 2008
- British Troops Leave Cleric's Basra Office Sep 19, 2004
