Iraqi Shiite cleric al-Sadr extends militia truce (2nd Roundup)

Aug 28, 2008, 18:43 GMT

Baghdad - Iraqi radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in a statement released late Thursday, ordered a halt to his Mahdi Army militia's armed operations for a third time.

'Anyone who does not observe this ceasefire will not be considered a member of this group,' Aqeel Abdel Hussein, a lawmaker of the Sadrist bloc quoted the anti-US cleric as saying.

The US has blamed the Mahdi Army, created after the 2003 US-led invasion, for some of the worst attacks in Iraq. In 2006, a Pentagon report described the army as the greatest threat to the country's security, even greater than the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

'A cultural programme will be set to increase awareness for the Mahdi Army,' the lawmaker told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency. Abdel Hussein denied that the programme was the first step to transforming the militia into a civil society organization.

No reasons were given for al-Sadr's decision, which came less than a month after he promised to dismantle the militia and support the Iraqi government if it did not sign a security pact with Washington.

The two sides are still negotiating the pact that would allow US troops to operate after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said this week that they had settled a timeline for US withdrawal by 2011.

Al-Sadr ordered a six-month freeze of Mahdi Army activities a year ago after allegations that his fighters had been involved in clashes with security forces in the shrine city of Karbala. He extended the freeze for a further six months in February.

Earlier on Thursday, a blast in a market in Kirkuk in northern Iraq killed a civilian and injured seven persons, police said.

The detonation rocked a popular market in the Domeez area in southern Kirkuk and caused damage to several shops in the area, a police official told VOI.

Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city with a population of Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. It is located some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad.

In another development, the Baquba public hospital morgue in cooperation with charity organizations buried some 50 unidentified bodies in al-Shareef cemetery in central Baquba, VOI reported.

Over the last couple of weeks, police found the bodies in a state of decay in several places around the province, an unidentified source told VOI. Baquba is the centre of Diyala province 60 kilometres north Baghdad.