BAGHDAD – Clerics loyal to radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers yesterday to respect a cease-fire and try to make peace with rival factions.
The appeals came as authorities ordered a one-day vehicle ban in Baquba after deadly suicide bombings and other attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq against predominantly Sunni fighters who have allied with the United States.
The U.S. military has stepped up operations against al-Qaeda cells and networks north of Baghdad in Diyala province, of which Baquba is the capital.
The overwhelmingly Sunni groups have increasingly become the targets of deadly attacks after a Dec. 29 call by Osama bin Laden that labeled them traitors.
Known as Awakening Councils in some areas and as Concerned Local Citizens in others, the groups have been considered one of the factors that led to a 60 percent drop in violence around Iraq in the past six months.
The others are an inflow of tens of thousands of U.S. troops and the cease-fire declared in August by al-Sadr for his Mahdi army militia.
The Sadrist calls for peace came during Friday prayers in the Shiite holy city of Kufa and the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
They appeared to be part of ongoing attempts by al-Sadr to patch things up with two of Iraq's more influential Shiite movements: Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the largest Shiite political party, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party.
“We Sadrists are moving in the way of Muqtada's peaceful initiatives in the provinces, and especially the ones that witnessed violence,” Abdul Hadi al-Mohammadawi, a senior aide to al-Sadr, said in his sermon.
In August, followers of al-Sadr and those loyal to al-Hakim fought in the holy city of Karbala during a religious festival, killing 52 people. In October, the two leaders signed a truce, which has largely held.
“We think that the best way to solve existing problems and provide all with the chance to reach the shores of peace is a comprehensive dialogue, instead of acts of violence,” al-Mohammadawi told worshippers.
On Thursday, al-Sadr's representatives met with officials from al-Hakim's party in Kufa, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
In Sadr City, a cleric loyal to al-Sadr urged Mahdi army members to honor the cease-fire declared by their leader.
“We praise the positive role of the Imam al-Mahdi army for obeying its leader's freezing order, until God wishes otherwise,” Sheik Jasim al-Metery said, referring to the militia by its full name in his sermon.
Also yesterday, Polish officials reported that Iraqi and Polish forces arrested three gunmen Thursday in Ifach, east of Diwaniyah.
