Iraqi PM Al Maliki threatens to bar Al Sadr from vote unless militia disbands

Baghdad: Iraq's prime minister raised the stakes in his showdown with followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, saying in an interview broadcast on Monday they would be barred from elections unless their militia disbands.

The comments followed raids on Sunday by security forces into the cleric's Baghdad stronghold, the slum of Sadr City, which brought heavy fighting back to the capital after a week of relative calm when Sadr called his militia off the streets.

US forces reported two more deaths across Iraq on Sunday, bringing the single day toll to seven, making it one of the deadliest days for American troops since the arrival of extra forces last year reduced violence over the second half of 2007.

"Solving the problem comes in no other way than dissolving the Mehdi Army," Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said in an interview with CNN. "They no longer have a right to participate in the political process or take part in the upcoming elections unless they end the Mahdi Army."

It was the first time Al Maliki has singled out Sadr's Mahdi Army militia by name and ordered it to disband. He said government troops would continue a crackdown - first launched in the southern city of Basra late last month - in Sadr City.

"We have opened the door for confrontation ... with these gangs, and we will not stop until we are in full control of these areas."

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr will disband his Mahdi Army militia if top Shiite clerics including Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani order him to do so, a senior Sadr aide said yesterday. Aide Hassan Zargani said that Sadr had told his representatives in both the holy Iraqi city of Najaf and also the Iranian city of Qom to ask top Shiite religious leaders for advice on whether to dissolve the militia. "If they order the Mahdi Army to disband, Moqtada Al Sadr and the Sadr movement will obey the orders of the religious leaders," said Zargani, who was speaking from Iran.

The development came after Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki raised the stakes in a showdown with Sadr's millions of followers by saying they would be barred from elections later this year unless the Mahdi Army was dissolved.

"Moqtada Al Sadr has ordered his office in Najaf and Qom to form a delegation to visit Sistani in Najaf and [other leaders] in Qom to discuss the disbanding of the Mahdi Army," said Zargani.

Mehdi army: Did you know?

• Moqtada Al Sadr boasts the most powerful militia - the Mehdi Army - with an estimated 60,000 fighters.
• It was formed after Saddam Husssin's overthrow in April 2003.
• Since the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra unleashed a wave of sectarian bloodletting in February 2006, the Mehdi Army has grown more powerful. Sunni Arab leaders and US officials blamed it for death squad killings.
• The Pentagon in 2006 had said the Mahdi Army was a bigger threat to the country's stability than Al Qaida.