Radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared for Friday prayers at his local mosque in Kufa, central Iraq, five months after United States commanders claimed he had fled to Iran.
The young preacher, the leader of one of Iraq’s most powerful armed movements, arrived at the mosque surrounded by an entourage of Shi’ite clerics for weekly prayers for the first time since October last year.
US officials have said the firebrand cleric slipped out of Iraq in January ahead of a joint US-Iraqi security sweep that has since targeted his militia, the Mahdi Army, which is accused of taking part in sectarian attacks.
His followers insisted Sadr never left the country, but was instead keeping a low profile in the Kufa area while offering his support to the Iraqi part of the security operation, which was launched on February 14.
Since then several senior members of his movement have been arrested, provoking sporadic clashes between his militia and security forces, but by and large Sadr’s core movement has maintained a ceasefire.
A joint US and Iraqi security station has been established on the edge of Sadr City, the Baghdad slum that has long been the main bastion of Sadr’s supporters, and sectarian death-squad killings have diminished.
This week a delegation of Sunni tribal sheikhs met a group of their Shi’ite counterparts in Sadr City and vowed to work together for national unity.
Sadr has not moderated his anti-American rhetoric, however, and has issued several statements from his hidden location condemning the ”evil occupation forces” and blaming them for the continuing violence in Iraq. — AFP
