Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource." 
Email: Password:

  Radical Shiite cleric threatens to end 6-month cease-fire
NEWS DETAILS
Parent(s) Issue 
ContributorArmyDem 
Last EditedArmyDem  Feb 20, 2008 09:17am
Logged 0
CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Los Angeles Times
News DateWednesday, February 20, 2008 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionFrom the Associated Press
7:01 AM PST, February 20, 2008

BAGHDAD -- Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr may let a six-month cease-fire expire as soon as Saturday, a move that could send his Shiite militia fighters back out on the streets and jeopardize recent security gains that have led to a sharp decline in violence.

Iraqi police, meanwhile, held funerals today for 14 officers killed the night before as they responded to a rocket attack launched from a predominantly Shiite neighborhood against U.S. bases in the capital.

In a separate attack, three American troops were killed by a roadside bomb Tuesday night in northwestern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Their names were not released.

Al-Sadr's Shiite Mahdi Army is among the most powerful militias in Iraq, and the cease-fire he ordered last August has been credited with helping reduce violence around Iraq by 60 percent or more in the past six months.

Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, a spokesman for al-Sadr in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, said that if the cleric failed to issue a statement by Saturday saying that the cease-fire was extended, "then that means the freeze is over." Al-Sadr's followers would be free to resume attacks.

On an Internet site representing al-Sadr, al-Obeidi said that al-Sadr "either will announce the extension or will stay silent and not announce anything. If stays silent, that means that the freeze is over."
Share
ArticleRead Full Article

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor

DISCUSSION