He219
06-25-2004, 10:40 AM
http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/50995946.jpg?x=x&a=50995946&b=afp&t=1 (http://a1112.g.akamai.net/7/1112/492/03312000/news.lycos.com/news/ot_getImage.asp?op=img&id=632385)*Click to enlarge image*
Iman Awas al-Khafaji, spokesman for Shiite radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr in the Sadr City neighborhood, speaks at the al-Haqmi Mosque in Baghdad, Iraq Friday, June 25, 2004
Iraq's Sadr militia calls for truce, to fight "terrorists" (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040624/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_shiites_sadr_040624203130)
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Radical cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army declared a truce by loud speaker in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City and said it was ready to help protect important sites from terror attacks.
"Considering the exceptional circumstances that our people face, we have decided to stop from tonight the military operations in Sadr City until we receive new orders," the militia's central committee said in a statement.
"All the Mehdi Army will respect this decision or face expulsion," it said.
The Mehdi Army offered to protect government buildings, hospitals, power stations, water stations, service stations and oil refineries.
Fighting has rocked the Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City almost nightly since Sadr rose up against US forces in the first week of April.
The statement said the Mehdi Army was ready to protect "all those who might be targeted by terrorists notably in the coming two weeks," referring to the June 30 handover of power in Iraq (news - web sites).
"The Mehdi Army proves day after day it cares for the greater interests of the oppressed people of Iraq,"
The radical preacher's militia waged a two-and-half-month rebellion in central and southern Iraq against US-led coalition forces that ended only this month.
US forces evicted the militia from most areas, but had a protracted stand-off with the cleric in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.
Sadr agreed to scale back his presence in Najaf the first week of June and since then, the fiery cleric has given mixed signals on whether or not he would support the new Iraqi government.
His supporters said Wednesday his followers would not attend a national conference next month to pick an interim council to consult Iraq's new caretaker government.
The controversial cleric, the son of a grand ayatollah assassinated by Saddam's agents in 1999, is wanted by an Iraqi court in connection with the murder last year of a pro-American colleague.
Nice rifle ...
:fork:
Iman Awas al-Khafaji, spokesman for Shiite radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr in the Sadr City neighborhood, speaks at the al-Haqmi Mosque in Baghdad, Iraq Friday, June 25, 2004
Iraq's Sadr militia calls for truce, to fight "terrorists" (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040624/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_shiites_sadr_040624203130)
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Radical cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army declared a truce by loud speaker in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City and said it was ready to help protect important sites from terror attacks.
"Considering the exceptional circumstances that our people face, we have decided to stop from tonight the military operations in Sadr City until we receive new orders," the militia's central committee said in a statement.
"All the Mehdi Army will respect this decision or face expulsion," it said.
The Mehdi Army offered to protect government buildings, hospitals, power stations, water stations, service stations and oil refineries.
Fighting has rocked the Shiite Muslim slum of Sadr City almost nightly since Sadr rose up against US forces in the first week of April.
The statement said the Mehdi Army was ready to protect "all those who might be targeted by terrorists notably in the coming two weeks," referring to the June 30 handover of power in Iraq (news - web sites).
"The Mehdi Army proves day after day it cares for the greater interests of the oppressed people of Iraq,"
The radical preacher's militia waged a two-and-half-month rebellion in central and southern Iraq against US-led coalition forces that ended only this month.
US forces evicted the militia from most areas, but had a protracted stand-off with the cleric in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.
Sadr agreed to scale back his presence in Najaf the first week of June and since then, the fiery cleric has given mixed signals on whether or not he would support the new Iraqi government.
His supporters said Wednesday his followers would not attend a national conference next month to pick an interim council to consult Iraq's new caretaker government.
The controversial cleric, the son of a grand ayatollah assassinated by Saddam's agents in 1999, is wanted by an Iraqi court in connection with the murder last year of a pro-American colleague.
Nice rifle ...
:fork: