PM warns Al Sadr group over terror

Baghdad: Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki yesterday demanded the movement loyal to fiery cleric Moqtada Al Sadr take a clear stance on "terrorism" being committed by elements linked to the group.

Al Maliki used unusually tough language following recent unrest in southern Shiite cities where Al Sadr's Mahdi Army has clashed with Iraqi and US security forces.

"We hear from officials in the [Al] Sadr movement that they're against the use of weapons and condemn those who do [use them]," Al Maliki told reporters.

"The leadership of the movement must take clear and decisive decisions so they do not carry the responsibility of those who act in their name," he added.

Fighting between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi security forces has killed dozens of people in recent weeks in the relatively calm southern cities of Nassiriyah, Diwaniyah and Samawa. Al Maliki also said that the movement has been infiltrated by Baath-ists and gangs.

Despite being strong allies in the past, tension has been rising between Al Maliki and the Sadrists recently and culminated in April when six ministers loyal to Al Sadr quit the Cabinet to protest what Al Sadr said was the government's incompetence and refusal to call for a US troop withdrawal timeline.

Al Sadr, who has great appeal among Iraq's Shiite masses, was influential in Al Maliki's rise to power more than a year ago. Al Sadr's parliamentary bloc is also boycotting the legislature in protest at the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine last month in the city of Samarra.

In Baqouba, the top US commander said Sunni extremists are likely to try a series of high-profile attacks to grab the headlines ahead of a watershed report to Congress in September on political and military progress in Iraq. "We expect they will try this - pull off a variety of sensational attacks and grab the headlines to create a 'mini-Tet,'" General David Pet-raeus said in an interview. He was referring to the 1968 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Tet offensive that undermined public support for the Vietnam War in the United States. The offensive failed to achieve most of its tactical goals but it shattered political support for the Vietnam War among the US public. Pet-raeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to present a report to Congress by September 15 on the situation in Iraq.

Several Republicans say if progress is not made by then, they may call for a new strategy in Iraq. The general would not say what he and Crocker plan to tell Congress in the report. But he added that the two top American officials in Iraq 'have a responsibility to produce our assessment of the implications' of 'different options.'

Appeal: Parties urged to join new alliance

Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki yesterday called on political groups to join a proposed new alliance that would cut across sectarian lines and support his embattled government.

"This front is open to all those who agree with us over the necessity of improving the performance of the government, its [institutions] and in facing the threats against it," Al Maliki told a news conference.

His remarks follow reports in recent weeks that the ruling Shiite Alliance and two big Kurdish parties, which together hold a majority in parliament, planned to form an alliance in the wake of defections from the government by some politicians.

The main Sunni Arab bloc is boycotting cabinet and parliament meetings over what it says is unfair treatment of its members, although the move also reflects the deep sectarian divide in Iraqi politics.

Six ministers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr quit the government in April over Al Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Some Sunni Arab politicians and followers of Al Sadr, responding to the earlier reports of the proposed alliance, have said the move was a way to "sideline" them.

- AP