A senior aide to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr compared Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to former dictator Saddam Hussein on Sunday, accusing him of visiting Najaf to authorize further military operations against the city.
Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Darraji, speaking from Sadr City in northeast Baghdad, said the visit proved Allawi's determination to destroy both the cleric and the movement he leads. Allawi made the unannounced trip with his interior and defense ministers and national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie, meeting Najaf governor Adnan al-Zorfi and tribal leaders.
Allawi told those gathered that his government would rid Najaf of Sadr's militia, labeling its members outlaws and criminals. A day earlier he had said most fighters in the city had no direct connection to Sadr and invited the cleric to contest next year's elections. Darraji called the invitation "pure trickery."
A second aide, Sheikh Raed al-Khademi in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district, said Sadr's followers across Iraq had left behind family and normal life to stand by a leader they considered their true representative. Sadr himself was reported to be inside Najaf.
Armed clashes between Sadr loyalists and American and Iraqi forces had erupted in Najaf the previous Thursday. Violence had since spread to Sadr City and several Shiite communities in central and southern Iraq.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.