Radical cleric Sadr back in Iraq stronghold: source

Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday returned to his home city of Najaf in central Iraq after an absence abroad of about four years, a source in his movement said.

"Moqtada al-Sadr has returned to his home in Najaf. He arrived about 3:00 pm (1200 GMT) with several leaders from the Sadr movement," the source said, adding that Sadr was not visiting but had returned to stay.

The source said Sadr had left Iraq at the end of 2006.

Sadr, the son of revered Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, has reportedly been pursuing religious studies in the Iranian holy city of Qom.

The cleric, who is said to be in his 30s, gained wide popularity among Shiites in Iraq in the months after the U.S-led invasion of 2003 and in 2004 his Mahdi Army militia battled U.S. troops in two bloody conflicts.

Known for the black turban of a "sayyid," or descendant of the Prophet Mohammed and a black beard to match, the young cleric was identified by the Pentagon in 2006 as the biggest threat to stability in Iraq.

His militia became the most active and feared armed Shiite group, blamed by Washington for death-squad killings of thousands of Sunnis.

But in August 2008, he suspended the activities of his Mahdi Army, which once numbered in the tens of thousands, following major U.S. and Iraqi assaults on its strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq in the spring of that year.

Following the ceasefire, U.S. military commanders praised him, saying his action has been instrumental in helping bring about a significant decrease in the levels of violence across Iraq.

Despite only rare appearances in public, the cleric is idolized by millions of Shiites, especially in the shrine city of Najaf in central Iraq where he has his headquarters and the impoverished Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.

Politically, Sadr showed he could pull powerful strings even though out the country.

After throwing his weight behind Shiite politician Nouri al-Maliki in 2006, ensuring he became prime minister, Sadr then ordered his followers to pull out of the premier's cabinet a year later, almost bringing down the government.

In the March 7, 2010 polls, Sadr's bloc won 39 out of the 325 parliamentary seats.

His bloc now holds seven cabinet posts -- Housing and Construction, Labour and Social Affairs, Water Resources, a minister of state for Tourism and Archaeology, and two ministers without portfolio -- in the national unity cabinet that was approved by parliament on December 21.

Deputy speaker of parliament Qussai Abdel Wahab al-Suhail is a member of Sadr's bloc.

Following the election, Sadr said in a television interview he had "tried not to have a veto against anyone, but the masses had a veto against (Prime Minister Nuri) al-Maliki."

Maliki while on a visit to Iran on October 18 met with Sadr in Qom in a bid to win his support.

Al-Alam TV reported on its website at the time that their talks focused on "the situation in Iraq, the alliance of Sadr's group with Maliki's State of Law bloc and details of forming the government in Iraq."

Sadr's father and two brothers were killed in 1999 by gunmen allegedly sent by dictator Saddam Hussein, who was ousted in the U.S. invasion of 2003.