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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Parliament announced it had
no plans to meet Thursday night and no date for a
future session, signaling Iraqi factions were
failing to reach agreement on a new constitution
before a self-imposed midnight target.
The statement from National Assembly's top
spokesman, Bishro Ibrahim, came as negotiators
struggled for consensus on a draft by the close of a
72-hour extension granted Monday night by
parliament, after Sunni Arabs blocked a vote on a
charter accepted by Shiite and Kurdish negotiators.
Earlier Thursday, a radical Shiite cleric called on
followers to end clashes with Shiite rivals, one day
after his office in the holy city of Najaf was
burned and four of his supporters were killed.
In calling for calm, Muqtada al-Sadr urged "all
believers to spare the blood of the Muslims and to
return to their homes."
"I will not forget this attack on the office ... but
Iraq is passing through a critical and difficult
period that requires unity," he told reporters in
his home in Najaf.
He demanded that Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the
rival Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq, or SCIRI, condemn "what his followers have
done."
"I urge the believers not to attack innocent
civilians and not to fall for American plots that
aim to divide us," al-Sadr said. "We are passing
through a critical period and a political process."
SCIRI has denied any role in the attack on al-Sadr's
office, issuing a statement urging an end to the
bloodshed, which it also called "a plot that targets
our unity."
The crisis began Wednesday when al-Sadr's supporters
tried to reopen his office across the street from
the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, Iraq's most sacred
Shiite shrine. Rivals tried to stop them, fights
erupted and the office was set afire.
Armed attacks against offices of al-Sadr's movement
and SCIRI then spread across the Shiite heartland of
central and southern Iraq. Twenty-one pro-al-Sadr
members of parliament and three top government
officials announced they were halting official
duties to protest the Najaf attack.
Legislator Bahaa al-Araji said the suspension will
continue "until the leader's demands are met and
until the investigation is over."
Al-Sadr supporters in Diwaniyah, 105 miles south of
Baghdad, occupied parts of the city, setting up
checkpoints and firing on police and rival groups,
police Capt. Hussein Hakim said. Some residents fled
to nearby villages.
SCIRI members torched a building belonging to al-Sadr's
movement in the Baghdad suburb Nahrawan, police
said. In retaliation, al-Sadr followers set fire to
an office of SCIRI's Badr Brigade militia in
Baghdad's heavily Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
Iraqi leaders seen to be cooperating with the
U.S.-led coalition have been frequent targets for
attack, and on Thursday, gunmen attacked cars owned
by President Jalal Talabani, killing eight of his
bodyguards and wounding 15, a security official
said. Talabani was not in any of the cars when the
attack occurred 55 miles south of Kirkuk.
The cars were returning to Baghdad from Kurdistan
when attacked, police said.
The attack came three days after Environment
Minister Narmin Othman escaped an assassination
attempt when gunmen attacked her convoy north of
Baghdad, wounding three bodyguards.
Also Thursday, the partly clothed bodies of 36 men
were discovered southeast of Baghdad on a road
leading to Iran, police said. The area has seen
killings in the past between Shiites and Sunnis, but
it was not clear if the latest deaths were due to
sectarian motives.
However, Col. Ali al-Kuraishi said some of the men
were wearing baggy trousers worn by Kurds. He said
all had been shot in the head and some had their
hands bound with metal cuffs.
Clashes broke out in Amarah, where al-Sadr's
militiamen attacked the headquarters of the Badr
group with mortars. Nine people have been killed and
35 injured since Wednesday night in the clashes,
said Mohammed Taha of the local statistics office.
Fighting erupted before dawn in Basra, the country's
second-largest city and the major metropolis of the
south, but settled down after daybreak, police and
residents said.
There also were clashes Wednesday night in Samawah,
where Japanese troops are based. Offices of SCIRI
were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.
The new violence came as the Defense Department
announced it was ordering 1,500 paratroopers from
the 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq to provide
security for the October constitutional referendum
and December national elections.
Iraqi political figures moved quickly to contain the
Shiite crisis, which flared as the country also
faced a virulent insurgency led by Sunni Arabs in
central, northern and western Iraq.
Talabani, a Kurd, telephoned al-Sadr to appeal for
restraint. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a
Shiite who has cultivated ties to al-Sadr, condemned
the Najaf attack and promised that "the government
will start an immediate investigation" into the
incident.
During his news conference Thursday, al-Sadr
criticized the Shiite-led government, in which SCIRI
plays a major role.
"What we want is that the voice of people be louder
than the voice of the government," he said. "There
is elements who fired shots near Imam Ali Shrine,
and we know who are stationed near the shrine.
Anyone who committed aggression on the al-Sadr
office will receive his punishment."
Al-Sadr criticized portions of the draft
constitution, saying it was not strong enough
against Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. Al-Sadr also
spoke out against federalism, which is also opposed
by the Sunni Arabs.
"We reject federalism and if America has schemes, it
should not try to implement those schemes," al-Sadr
said.
Al-Sadr, in his 30s, is the son of an eminent cleric
believed to have been murdered by Saddam's regime,
He is among the most outspoken Shiites opposed to
the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
Beginning in April 2004, he led two Shiite uprisings
against U.S.-led forces after the occupation
authorities closed his newspaper, arrested key aides
and issued a warrant charging him in the
assassination of a rival cleric.
Hundreds died in the uprisings. Since then, the
fiery young cleric has emerged as a major political
figure, the warrant against him largely forgotten.
AP
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