Saturday, March 31, 2007
Al-Sadr calls for U.S. withdrawal as 500 killed in six days
Security
(Al Jazeera) - Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader who heads the Sadrist movement, has again called for the US to pull out of Iraq. Al-Sadr's statement on Friday was his first since March 14, when he urged supporters to resist US forces in Iraq through peaceful means. He said: "The departure of the occupier will mean stability for Iraq, victory for Islam and peace and defeat for terrorism and infidels." US and Iraqi officials have said al-Sadr remains in Iran, but other sources claim he has returned to Najaf. "I renew my call for the occupier [the United States] to leave our land," he said in the statement.
The Iraqi government says it is doing its best to stop Iraq reaching a "level of despair" after six days of violence that resulted in 508 people dead. On Friday, marketplaces in Baghdad and in the towns of Tal Afar and Khalis - devastated by waves of bomb attacks - stood in ruins. Clean-up crews shovelled broken glass and debris into wheelbarrows in bloodstained streets. Bomb victims in wooden coffins were hoisted atop cars and vans for the trip south for burial in the Muslim holy city of Najaf.
Sami al-Askari, aide to Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said: "There is a race between the government and the terrorists who are trying to make people reach the level of despair. "But the government is doing its best to defeat terrorists and it definitely will not be affected by these bombings."
Sami al-Askari, aide to Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, said: "There is a race between the government and the terrorists who are trying to make people reach the level of despair. "But the government is doing its best to defeat terrorists and it definitely will not be affected by these bombings."
Labels: Iraq violence, Moqtada Al-Sadr
