Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued his strongest warning yet to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to disband his Mehdi Army militia or face political isolation. The militia fired back yesterday, saying a move to ban them from elections would be unconstitutional.
The US military, meanwhile, said two more soldiers died in roadside bombings on Sunday, raising the day’s US death toll to at least five. The announcement came a day before the two top US officials in Iraq are scheduled to brief the US Congress on prospects for the eventual withdrawal of US troops.
Gunbattles also continued yesterday in Baghdad’s main Shiite district of Sadr City, a day after fierce clashes broke out when some 1,000 US and Iraqi troops began an operation to push deeper into the Mehdi Army’s largest stronghold.
PHOTO: AFP
Al-Sadr plans to hold a “million-strong” anti-US demonstration tomorrow in Baghdad to protest the fifth anniversary of the capture of the Iraqi capital by invading US troops.
With tensions rising, al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, told CNN Sunday that al-Sadr’s followers would not be allowed “to participate in the political process or take part in upcoming elections unless they end the Mehdi Army.”
He was referring to provincial elections expected in the fall that are likely to redistribute power in Iraq. The Sadrists have accused al-Maliki’s government and rival parties of trying to diminish their standing ahead of the vote.
Hospital officials said nine more people were killed, including five children and two women, and dozens wounded as gunbattles continued into yesterday morning. That pushed the two-day death toll to at least 25.
Suspected Shiite militants also lobbed rockets and mortar shells into the US-protected Green Zone and a military base elsewhere in Baghdad on Sunday, killing three US troops and wounding 31, officials said.
An explosion destroyed a house in Iraq’s southern city of Basra overnight and Iraqi police said yesterday that eight people had died.
Television footage showed rescue workers pulling bodies from the rubble of a house that had been completely destroyed. Relatives wailed in grief and children picked through the rubble.
Neighbors said they believed the blast was caused by a US air strike, but British forces, responsible for US and British military activity in the area, denied any role and said they had no explanation for the blast.
“Coalition and Iraqi security forces were not involved in the incident,” they said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Iran said it was willing to enter another round of talks with the US over Iraq security.
Iran and the US have held three rounds of ambassador-level talks on Iraqi security in Baghdad since last May.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said yesterday Iran would “continue the talks with necessary conditions.”
He said the US had sent an official request for talks through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran because Washington and Tehran have no formal relations.
Hosseini did not a give possible time for the next round of talks.
Iran holds considerable sway in Iraq, where the majority of the population is also Shiite Muslim and where Shiite political parties have close ties to Tehran.
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