ARMED loyalists of Shi'ite leader Moqtada Sadr were to start withdrawing from the holy central Iraqi city of Najaf and its surroundings today, their spokesman said after a meeting with Shi'ite officials. Qais al-Khazaali said Sadr had met with the Shi'ite House, a grouping of Shi'ite parties and religious authorities. "Starting tomorrow we shall start or continue withdrawing any armed presence and freeing all suspects" arrested by Sadr's militiamen, he said at a press conference with Shi'ite representative Haidar al-Sufi. The Shi'ite House would "choose some of its members to supervise" application of a truce with US forces in specific districts, Sufi said. "We ask the governor of Najaf to deploy the police forces made up of citizens of Najaf to bring security to the people," Sufi added. "We ask the occupation forces and the Iraqi police to refrain from making arrests and searches in Najaf province." | That would spoil the fun! |
Hundreds of hard boyz militiamen and civilians have been killed across central and southern Iraq since firebrand cleric Sadr began his uprising against US-led coalition troops two months ago. A truce was announced in Najaf and Kerbala provinces on May 27 between the coalition forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, but it has frequently been broken by the hard boyz. Five civilians and an unknown number of Shi'ite Muslim militiamen were killed in Kufa on yesterday in clashes with US troops, said the US military and medics, as fresh fighting rocked neighbouring Najaf. The US military said yesterday's clashes broke out in Kufa as troops searched a school suspected of having been used by Mehdi Army members to launch mortar attacks. | Isn't using a school to launch an attack a violation of some sorta law? I can't remember. |
Sadr has offered to pull all militiamen who are not from Najaf out of the shrine city provided US troops leave as well. He has also asked for legal proceedings against him to be suspended until there is an elected Iraqi government, but coalition officials continue to insist that he disband his private army and face justice. | I'm waiting for the full-face and profile mug shots sans turban. |
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