BAGHDAD (AFP) — Crowds of Shiite Muslims launched a tirade against Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during Friday prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City and urged him to end a stalemate with their leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
"The government must remember that power is not eternal," said Sheikh Suheil al-Ukabi as he led worshippers at the Al-Hikma mosque in the stronghold of Sadr's private militia.
"My advice is to return to reason and come back to the people," he said, addressing the faithful. They responded by chanting: "Oh Moqtada, you are our bridge to paradise!" and "Long live Moqtada!"
Maliki's Iraqi forces backed by US troops are currently involved in a bitter campaign against Sadr's followers after the prime minister launched a crackdown on Shiite militiamen, mostly from Sadr's Mahdi Army, in late March.
The US military claims the operation in Sadr City is aimed at preventing rocket and mortar fire on the Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy.
Tensions have escalated in a district where prayers and politics mingle after Maliki told reporters on Wednesday he would continue with his assault until he "liberated" Sadr City from the militias' grip.
He said his ultimate objective was to "disband the Mahdi Army" and other Sunni insurgent groups, apart from "eliminating Al-Qaeda" in Iraq.
The Sadrists, however, accuse Maliki of trying to weaken their movement ahead of the October provincial elections.
"Nuri al-Maliki has compounded misunderstandings and false accusations. He seeks to cover the failure of his domestic policy," Salman al-Fraiji, head of the Sadr movement in Baghdad, said in an address to the crowd.
"You are trying to cover up the crimes of your protectors in Sadr City. Heinous crimes have been perpetrated by the occupiers in our area. Why are you hiding them?"
"You have failed to convince Arab countries to open embassies in Iraq," Fraiji added, virtually reading a charge sheet against the Shiite premier.
The attacks on Maliki indicate the disintegration of his relationship with the Sadrists, with whose support he formed Iraq's first permanent post-Saddam government in 2006.
The anti-Maliki sentiment is no different in Sadr City's hospitals.
In the Al-Sadr hospital, Abu Zenab is livid.
His daughter-in-law Haifa, 28, is lying in bed with bandaged legs after she was injured in a US air strike two days ago.
"Why can't Maliki come here to see what is happening to civilians of Sadr City?" he demanded.
"We were in bed when around 1:30 in the morning, everything exploded. Thank God, Haifa's six children survived. But both her legs are broken," he said as Haifa buried her face in the pillow.
"Should we regret losing Saddam Hussein? He gave hard times, but not like this," added the father.
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