Sadr snubs Iraq peace delegation

Refused talks with the lawmakers in Iran

Najaf, IRAQ (Agencies)

Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday refused talks with Iraqi lawmakers visiting neighboring Iran in a bid to end clashes between his fighters and troops.

"Moqtada al-Sadr did not permit his leaders to meet the Iraqi delegation," said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the cleric's spokesman in the central holy city of Najaf.

"Sadr insists that the crisis can be solved only through a parliamentary initiative backed by President Jalal Talabani and speaker Mahmud Mashhadani."

Earlier, Obeidi said that Iraqi Shiite MPs traveled to Iran for talks with Sadr, in the first acknowledgement that the cleric was in Iran. It was unclear however if Sadr was in Tehran or in the holy Iranian city of Qom.

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, gave his backing to Baghdad's efforts to broker a deal with the radical cleric and renewed U.S. concern over Iran's role in Iraq.

Speaking Thursday after an hour-long meeting with British Premier Gordon Brown in London, Petraeus said there was widespread concern about Iranian backing for attacks against the coalition in Iraq, despite Iran's denials.

The Shia-led Iraqi government "has very rightly" sent a delegation to try to end clashes between coalition troops and fighters loyal to Sadr who have been "armed, trained and equipped" by Iran, he said.

"The important focus has to be on the way ahead and Iran truly wanting its neighbor to the west... a fellow Shia-led government, to succeed, so there can be a constructive relationship," Petraeus said.

Shiite militiamen, mainly from Sadr's Mahdi Army, have fought fierce street battles with U.S. and Iraqi forces since late March in Baghdad's Sadr City, the cleric's bastion in the capital.

The firefights fuelled the overall bloodshed in April, with at least 1,073 people killed across the country at a time when the U.S. military's toll also hit a seven-month high.

Overnight clashes in Sadr City between the Americans and Shiite militiamen left another eight people dead, including two children, officials said. The military said it killed eight militants.

Since the crackdown on the Shiite fighters began in March, militants have fired salvoes of rockets across the capital, including into the heavily fortified Green Zone diplomatic and government compound.

Twin suicide blasts

Meanwhile twin suicide blasts ripped through a wedding party in Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 60, an Iraqi army officer said.

The suicide bombers blew themselves up at Balad Ruz, about 75 kilometers (46 miles) north of Baghdad in the province of Diyala in a street where guests were gathering on the traditional day for weddings, Thursday.

They detonated their explosive vests in quick succession, said Major General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie, head of the provincial military command.

Earlier in the day, a car bomb blew up in central Baghdad as a U.S. military patrol passed, killing at least eight people and wounding 21, security officials said.