Hat tip: Belmont Club
Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr,wanted by coalition forces in Iraq, ended his sit-in at a mosque in Kufa Tuesday and travelled to the holy city of Najaf to prevent more bloodshed. "I have taken it upon myself to prevent more bloodshed except mine," he said in a statement, expressing his concern that the US troops may violate the sacred site of Al Kufa mosque. Sadr said he took his decision to "observe a peaceful sit-in" at the mosque of Al Kufa to protest against "the aggressions committed by the infidel occupier against civilians". An arrest warrant has been issued last year for Sadr for the murder of a rival cleric, Abdel Majid al-Khoei, just days after thefall of Saddam’s regime. Thousands of his supporters gathered in the mosque and vowed to defend him to the death after US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer declared Sadr an outlaw on Monday. |