BAGHDAD - Iraq's main Sunni religious authority called Wednesday for the resignation of the interior and defence ministers, blaming them for the murder of several clerics.
"The Committee of Muslim Scholars demands the resignation of the interior and defence ministers, who are responsible for the inhumane and reckless behaviour of their services," it said in a statement.
"These actions, if not stopped, could lead to the civil war that some people inside and outside Iraq want," said the committee, which has authority over some 3,000 Sunni mosques across the country.
Interior Minister Bayan Baqer Solagh, a Shiite, and Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni, denied the involvement of their security services in the recent killings of Sunni clerics.
The Muslim scholars -- also known as the Ulema -- charge that at least two Sunni clerics were captured Sunday by government forces and their bodies found later in Baghdad.
Iraq has witnessed an escalation in tit-for-tat sectarian killings in recent weeks, fueling fears that a civil conflict could break out.
Most of the sectarian attacks had so far targeted Shiites south of Baghdad but the recent murder of Sunnis has prompted fears that Shiite militias were no longer heeding their clergy's calls for restraint.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and radical leader Moqtada Sadr -- Iraq's two most prominent Shiite clerics -- spoke out against the violence Monday and urged their followers not to resort to revenge killings.
05/18/2005 10:16 GMT