Sadr threatens Iraq's govt with "open war"

Iraq's Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has threatened an "open war" against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on his followers.

"I am giving my last warning and my word to the Iraqi government to take the path of peace and stop violence against its own people, otherwise it will be a government of destruction," Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the holy city of Najaf.

"If it does not stop the militias that have infiltrated the government, then we will declare an open war until liberation."

Sadr's movement accuses other Shiite parties of getting their militias into the Iraqi security forces, especially in southern Shiite Iraq where various factions are competing for influence in a region home to most of Iraq's oil output.

In his statement, addressed to the people of Iraq, the cleric also lashed out at human rights groups.

"Gaza was surrounded and everybody kept quiet. And now it is (Sadr) City and Basra and everybody is quiet. Where are the human rights? Where are the laws you want to adopt for freedom and democracy?"

The spectre of a full-scale uprising by Sadr sharply raises the stakes in his confrontation with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has threatened to ban the anti-American cleric's movement from political life unless he disbands his militia.

A rebellion by Sadr's Mehdi Army militia -- which has tens of thousands of fighters -- could abruptly end a period of lower violence at a time when U.S. forces are starting to leave Iraq.

Since March 25, Iraqi and U.S. forces are fighting street battles with Shiite militiamen, mostly from Sadr's Mahdi Army, in Sadr City.

The fighting began when Maliki launched a crackdown on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. The military assault quickly triggered clashes to other Shiite regions of Iraq, including Sadr City.

Sadr said he belonged to Iraq and vowed to continue to fight for the people of Iraq.

"They accuse me of belonging to Iran ... but I belong to only Iraq. I belong to the will of my people."

He also lashed out at the United States and at the government. "The occupation has made us target of its planes, tanks, air strikes and snipers. Without our support this government would not have been formed. But with its alliance with the occupier it is not independent and sovereign, as we would like it to be," the cleric said.