IRAQ:Radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to allow supporters to rejoin the Iraqi government after a three-week boycott, officials close to the militia leader said, as political rivals pushed to form a coalition without him.
The US military reported the deaths of five more soldiers in Iraq yesterday as defence secretary Robert Gates ended a visit aimed at finding a new strategy to curb violence and allow US troops to withdraw.
In December 75 American troops were killed; at the current rate, the number of US combat deaths this month could meet or exceed the previous monthly record for 2006.
At least 2,963 US troops have died since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
It was unclear whether a new coalition taking shape among Shias, Kurds and one Sunni party would be able to govern effectively without the backing of Mr Sadr's 30 loyalists in the 275-member parliament, and his six ministers in the 38-member cabinet. The cleric's followers had boycotted politics to protest at the prime minister's recent meeting with US president George Bush, but appear to have decided to go back to parliament to strengthen their bargaining power - backed up by a militia army - and avoid political isolation.
Shias from parliament's largest bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, met yesterday in the holy city of Najaf to seek approval from the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for a coalition that crosses sectarian lines. The ayatollah, a revered cleric who holds sway over many Iraqi Shias, is said to be alarmed at the sectarian bloodshed sweeping swathes of the country.
The Shia delegates planned to visit Mr Sadr later yesterday or today, participants and their aides said on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the talks. "The al-Sadr movement will return to the government and parliament," said Abdul Karim al-Anizi, a Shia lawmaker from prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa faction, which had relied on Mr Sadr for political support.