IRAQ:Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months yesterday to renew demands for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and portray himself as a leader for all Iraqis
At about the time he was delivering a sermon at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kufa, Iraqi special forces killed a top leader of his feared al-Mahdi army militia in southern Basra.
The US military meanwhile announced yesterday the deaths of six more soldiers in Iraq, underscoring President George Bush's prediction on Thursday that a bloody summer lay ahead.
Moqtada al-Sadr had not been seen since before a security crackdown began in Baghdad and other areas in February, but the charismatic cleric re-emerged to brand the US, Britain and Israel the "evil trio". In his sermon, he sought to portray himself as a national leader prepared to defend the interests of Sunni Muslims and Christians as well as majority Shias.
"I renew my demand for the occupiers to leave or to draw up a timetable for withdrawal and I ask the government not to let the occupiers extend their occupation even for one day," al-Sadr told thousands of worshippers.
The US military claims that al- Sadr fled to Iran in January before the Baghdad security initiative began, but aides of the cleric insist that he never left Iraq.
"Now that he's back from four months in Iran, we hope he'll play a constructive role in the future of Iraq," White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Washington.
The cleric, who draws his support mainly from poor Shias, also tried to reinforce his authority over his al-Mahdi army militia, calling on them to stop fighting Iraqi forces. His militia fought two pitched battles against US troops in 2004.
In Basra, the British military said that Iraqi special forces had killed the leader of al-Sadr's militia in the oil hub, 550 km (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
Wissam Abdul Qader and at least one aide were shot shortly after leaving al-Sadr's office in the centre of the city, which is the gateway to the gulf and to Iraq's main oilfields.
British military spokesman Maj David Gell said that Abdul Qader resisted arrest. He was suspected of involvement in planting roadside bombs, weapons-trafficking, assassinations and planning and participating in attacks on British troops. - (Reuters)