BAGHDAD (Agencies)
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled back from confrontation with the government on Friday, asking his followers to continue to observe a shaky ceasefire and not to do battle with government troops, despite fierce clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City that killed 11 people overnight.
"You are the best who committed and were patient with the decision to cease fire, and were the most obedient to your leader," said a statement from Sadr, read out by a cleric during Friday prayers at a major mosque in Sadr's eastern Baghdad stronghold, the Sadr City slum.
"I wish you would continue your patience and your belief."
American and Iraqi forces clashes with militiamen, mostly from Sadr's Mahdi Army, since late Thursday have left 11 people dead and 32 wounded, an Iraqi medical official said on Friday.
The U.S. military said its troops killed 10 "criminals" in northeast Baghdad where Sadr City is located. The impoverished district is home to some two million people.
The Sadr City medic said the dead included four old men, two women and a child. Women and children were also among the wounded, he added.
The U.S. military gave a different version of the clashes. It said that in the first incident at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Thursday, a group of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers was attacked with 60mm mortar rounds.
"A three-man mortar team was engaged and killed," the military said in a statement to AFP.
American and Iraqi forces have fought fierce street battles in Sadr City with militants, mostly from the Mahdi Army, since March 25 when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown in the southern city of Basra. |
