|
Vowing To Fight On, Sadr Wants 'Agent Govt.' To Go
 |
|
An Iraqi Sunni Muslim waves the Iraqi flag during a demonstration against the US-led offensive on Najaf (AFP)
|
Additional
Reporting By Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondent
AN-NAJAF,
Iraq, August 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In his first
public appearance, Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr demanded the
“dictatorial, agent” interim government step down, vowing to fight
the US-occupation forces until death or victory.
On
the ground in Najaf, a tentative lull in fighting held Saturday,
August 14, amid reports the
USforces were suspending their fierce offensive there to give a chance
for truce talks to yield results.
Elsewhere,
US occupation forces, backed by Iraqi police, killed overnight at
least 90 Iraqis in the two southern towns of Hilla and
Samarra.
“I
advise the dictatorial, agent government to resign ... the whole Iraqi
people demands the resignation of the government ... they replaced
Saddam with a government worse than him,” said Sadr, who put a
bandage on his right hand after being injured in the deadly US
offensive into Najaf early Friday.
Speaking
through his spokesman Sheikh Ali Sumeisim, Sadr told droves of his
supporters “I will not leave this holy city”, to the chants of
“No, no to
America”, Reuters news agency reported.
“We
will remain here defending the holy shrines till victory or
martyrdom.”
‘Treacherous’
|
|
“We will remain here defending the holy shrines till victory or martyrdom,” said Sadr |
Sadr
statements came hours after Friday sermons across
Iraq
strongly blamed the interim Iraqi government of Iyad Allawi for taking
part in the blatant
US
aggression on the Shiite holy sites and Shrines, calling its members
as a “bunch of treacherous people”.
“Those
who toe the occupation line and believe in the
USmilitary juggernaut are nothing but treacherous people, who will lose
at the end of the day,” said Sheikh Abdul Salam Al-Kubaisi at a
Baghdadmosque.
Al-Kubaisi,
a prominent scholar with the Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, urged
the interim government to leave
Iraq
immediately “as they no longer belong to the noble Iraqis”.
Sheikh
Abdul Ghafour Al-Samarrai, on his part, likened the
US
occupation policies in
Iraq
to the ones adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the
occupied Palestinian territories.
“They
adopted the same iron-fisted, scorched-earth policies of
Sharon,” he said.
'Stay
On Alert'
|
|
An Iraqi mother with her son injured in a US raid into Baghdad neighborhood Sadr City |
Sadr
further warned his loyalists that a
truce in the city might be a ploy to trick his men into laying
down their weapons.
Sadr
urged supporters in other cities in central and southern
Iraq
to continue their uprising, saying the shaky truce was restricted to
Najaf.
Aides
to the young leader said Friday Sadr sustained three
shrapnel wounds while inspecting fighting positions of his
Mehdi Army.
The
US occupation forces launched
a sweeping offensive Thursday, August 12 in a bid to crush
down the uprising of the Mehdi Army, amid fierce fighting raging for
almost a fortnight.
The
bloody
US
raid, described by law experts as amounting
to genocide, came amid signs of serious cracks among the ranks
of the Iraqi government, threats by police and National Guardsmen to
defect and join Mehdi Army, growing resentment among ordinary Iraqis
and a Sunni Fatwa prohibiting helping the American forces in their
fighting against Iraqis.
The
deputy governor of Najaf resigned, in protest at the “terrorist”
acts of the US occupation forces as deadly raids into the holy
city has left hundreds of Shiite fighters and civilians killed.
Truce
Conditions
Sadr
further set conditions for his militia to stop fighting following nine
days of clashes with US and Iraqi troops.
Chief
among them were the withdrawal of the US-led forces and handover of
Najaf to the Marjayia, the Shiite religious authority, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
“If
all multinational forces, Iraqi police and soldiers leave Najaf and
the Marjayia agrees to take responsibility for the city, “the Mehdi
Army would pull out from An-Najaf”, Sumeisim said, while stressing
they refused to disarm.
Resistance
fighters must no longer be persecuted and Sadr's organisation should
be allowed to decide for itself whether it becomes a political
movement, under Sadr's conditions.
Basic
services must be restored to the city, those jailed for supporting the
resistance, and all imprisoned scholars and women must also be
released, Sumeisim added.
90
Iraqis Killed
Meanwhile,
heavy fighting overnight between Shiite fighters and
US
forces backed by Iraqi police in southern towns killed at least 90
Iraqis.
In
the city of
Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of
Baghdad, pitched battles killed 40 Iraqis, Reuters quoted a senior Interior
Ministry official as saying Saturday, August 14.
The
official said the fighting erupted late Friday in the Shiite city and
had eased by early Saturday.
In
Samarra
town, US aircraft dropped predawn Saturday a series of 500-pound
bombs, killing at least 50 Iraqis.
“Initial
reports indicate that approximately 50 anti-Iraqi forces were killed
during a series of operations near
Samarra
on August 14 which started at about
12:01 a.m.
,” a
US
military statement said.
The
Iraqi health ministry said Thursday that clashes across war-torn
Iraq
have left 165 people dead and nearly 600 wounded in the last 24 hours.
Iraqi
Sunni and Shiite leaders slammed what they saw as a "bloodbath"
and called upon the international community to step in to rein the
Americans.
|
