BAGHDAD — Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shiite cleric, called on his supporters Tuesday to immediately withdraw from a government district in Baghdad after a day of fierce fighting there killed dozens of people, deepening the political crisis in the country.
Iraqi cleric orders supporters to withdraw after clashes killed dozens
“I apologize to the Iraqi people,” Sadr said in a televised speech early Tuesday afternoon. “I was hoping for a peaceful demonstration, not with mortars and weapons. I don’t want such revolution,” he said.
Minutes after his speech ended, groups of men, some carrying rocket-propelled grenades or other weapons, could be seen walking away from the Green Zone. Iraqi authorities announced the lifting of a curfew in the city that was imposed Monday.
The violence was the most intense during a summer of unrest in Iraq. The country has been without a government for the better part of a year and riven by escalating feuds between political factions, including Sadr’s followers and rival Shiite groups that are backed by Iran.
The latest standoff began in October, when Sadr won the largest number of seats in parliament but was unable to form a government. After months of political paralysis, Sadr withdrew his lawmakers from the legislature in June and sent his followers to occupy the parliament. A rival Shiite political grouping, dominated by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, accused Sadr of trying to stage a “coup” and held its own demonstrations.
Sadr, who has opposed both U.S. and Iranian influence in Iraq, has called for early elections, as well as the barring of political figures who served after the 2003 U.S. invasion from working in government.
For a tense 24 hours after Sadr’s retirement announcement Monday, Iraq’s arguments unfolded in a flurry of rocket attacks and gun battles in the once-cloistered Green Zone and in other cities across the country. Health officials said that at least 34 people were killed, as neighboring countries such as Iran and Kuwait warned their citizens to leave Iraq or avoid traveling there.
Fahim reported from Istanbul.
Source: WP
