IRAQ: Iraqi Shia political leaders called on Mr Moqtada al-Sadr to disarm yesterday and vowed to reach a domestic solution to the brewing crisis involving the anti-US cleric and the country's holiest cities.
The move is the first collective effort by Mr Sadr's political rivals to try to avoid further violence in Najaf and Kerbala and regain political ground lost to the firebrand cleric, whose nationalist brand of Islam has gained him support.
"It is a shame to ask the occupation forces to solve this problem," Mr Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum told a meeting of Shia parties, including those on the Governing Council.
"We are taking a clear stand: Najaf and Kerbala must be disarmed. These are holy cities that must have a Vatican-like status," he added.
Iran, which backs almost all Shia political forces in Iraq, earlier said the United States should leave the politicians to solve the problem instead of inflaming the situation by trying to arrest Mr Sadr.
This scenario could involve attacking Najaf, which contains the grave of Imam Ali, for Shias the most revered descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.
Mr Sadr has threatened suicide bombings if US forces attack the town, whose population has been influenced traditionally by an elder religious establishment. Both are critical of Mr Sadr.
The Shia leaders said they were against a US assault on Najaf and Kerbala to apprehend Mr Sadr and eliminate the threat posed by his militia, but that he must submit to the postwar political system.
Mr Sadr, aged about 30, derives his authority from his father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who paid with his life for defying Saddam Hussein from within Iraq.
He and two elder sons were murdered there in 1999, probably by the dictator's agents.
Since coalition forces toppled Saddam's Sunni-dominated secular administration in April 2003, the young Sadr has marked himself out from older Shia leaders by his virulent rhetoric against the US-appointed Governing Council and raising his Mahdi Army militia, several thousand strong.
Mr Haidar al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Governing Council member, Mr Ahmad Chalabi, said Shia pressure had already yielded results in defusing the crisis in Najaf and Kerbala, such as Mr Sadr's militia removing part of its arsenal from the Imam Ali shrine.
"The Najaf seminary is also playing a discreet role," he said, adding that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's aides were in talks with Mr Sadr. Ayatollah Sistani is the most influential Shia spiritual leader in Iraq.
Mr Chalabi and other leaders still envisage a peaceful outcome, although fighters loyal to Mr Sadr clashed with US forces overnight on Monday near the Iraqi city of Kufa.
A clash in neighbouring Najaf, south of Baghdad, between US forces and members of Mr Sadr's Mahdi Army killed five Iraqis and wounded 15.