NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) — The six-month ceasefire order given by Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to his Mahdi Army militia may not be renewed, his aides warned on Wednesday three days before the "freeze" expires.
"All possibilities are open concerning the prolongation or not of the halt of activities of the Mahdi Army. The matter is in the hands of Moqtada al-Sadr," spokesman Salah al-Obeidi told AFP.
"The deadline is next Saturday," Obeidi said from Sadr's office in the central shrine city of Najaf, adding that an announcement could be made during the weekly Friday prayers.
If Sadr "does not make a pronouncement and no statement is issued, that would signify the end of the period of cessation of activities of the Mahdi Army," Obeidi said.
Hazim al-Aajari, a cleric and confidant of Sadr, told AFP it was certain that an announcement would be made during Friday prayers.
But, he added, "I cannot say whether Moqtada al-Sadr will renew the truce or not."
Sadr ordered a six-month freeze in his militia's activities on August 29 after allegations that his fighters were involved in bloody clashes in the shrine city of Karbala, near Najaf.
Under the Muslim calendar, the ceasefire expires on Saturday.
Powerful members of the Sadr movement, including its MPs, have urged him not to renew the truce on the grounds that Mahdi Army fighters and other Sadrists are being targeted by Iraq's security forces.
Militiamen in Sadr City, the cleric's bastion in east Baghdad, complain that they are being singled out for raids and detentions by the US military.
The suspension of the militia's activities is cited by US commanders as one of the factors behind a 62 percent reduction in violent attacks across Iraq since June.
US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith had nothing but praise for Sadr on Wednesday.
"Moqtada al-Sadr's efforts in the ceasefire have been productive," he told a news conference in Baghdad. "Overall we are witnessing a decrease in violence" since the ceasefire.
Sadr and his supporters "recognise the responsible role they play in the Shiite community", Smith said. They have "been very positive in reducing violence, and we expect to continue to see that trend."
But he blamed "Iranian-backed special groups" -- dissident Mahdi Army fighters -- for the upsurge in rocket attacks in Baghdad in recent days.
"These are signature Iranian types of weapons," Smith said, adding that the reason for the uptick was not clear.
"We are uncertain what has been the motivation," he added.
On Monday a barrage of 16 Katyusha rockets fired at Baghdad's international airport and the adjoining Camp Victory military base killed five Iraqis and wounded two US soldiers.
Another barrage of rockets slammed into two US outposts in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, wounding four soldiers.
The truck from which the rockets were launched exploded as bomb disposal experts approached it, killing 15 members of Iraq's security forces, Iraqi officials said.
Smith said that US and Iraqi forces arrested six men, "all of them testing positive for explosive residue," after the Monday rocket attacks on Camp Victory.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
