An agreement to end days of fighting in the holy city of Najaf is imminent, Iraq’s government spokesperson said on Friday, confirming that ministers are working in the holy city to end the standoff.
”Many, many groups are coming to Najaf to make it end peacefully. We are the last people to want to kill anyone,” Gurgis Sada said.
Clerics across the country criticised the government at Friday prayers for days of fighting between United States-led Iraqi forces and Shi’ite Muslim militiamen in Najaf, an important Shi’ite pilgrimage city.
”There are ministers down there” in Najaf, Gurgis said, refusing to name them.
Asked when he expected a deal to be reached, he said: ”I hope everything will be nice in an hour.”
But he refused to call a lull in fighting a ceasefire, which he said is conditional on peace talks. The government has repeatedly refused to negotiate with the Mehdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Fallujah bombed
Meanwhile, US warplanes attacked several targets in Fallujah on Friday, according to witnesses who said several buildings were struck in three suburbs of the city west of Baghdad known as a hotbed of Sunni Muslim resistance.
Four people were killed and five wounded in the strikes, according to information from local hospital officials. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-DPA