KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (AFP) - Malaysia, which currently heads the world's biggest grouping of Islamic countries, called Monday for an end to violence in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, chairman of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, urged the United Nations to act to end the fighting.
"If the confrontation in Najaf is not defused, it will inflame emotions and may create unpredictable conditions," Abdullah said in a statement to the official Bernama news agency.
"It will also erode the fragile stability in the country and affect the preparations for the holding of the national elections in Iraq scheduled in January 2005," said Abdullah, who is in South Korea for a three-day visit.
"The people of Iraq deserve to have peace and not more suffering," he said.
US helicopters opened fire overnight on positions held by Shiite militiamen around a shrine in Najaf, while sporadic clashes continued in the area.
The ongoing violence further threatened a deal for the militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr to leave the mosque after a tense two-week-old standoff.
Any damage to the holy site could scupper efforts to end the worst crisis since sovereignty was handed over to Iraq on June 28 and risk sparking the anger of the country's Shiite majority.