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Followers of Sadr chant anti-government slogans at Imam Ali Shrine
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AN-NAJAF,
August 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Shiite leader
Moqtada Al-Sadr on Tuesday, August 17, failed to show up for a meeting
with a delegation of Iraqi politicians and religious leaders because
of incessant heavy shelling in An-Najaf by US forces, an aide to the
anti-US occupation firebrand said.
"He
declined to meet them due to security reasons and heavy shelling in
An-Najaf," Reuters news agency quoted Sheikh Mahmmoud Al-Soudani
as saying.
The
failure to hold face-to-face talks raises the possibility of a repeat
of US-led offensive to crush Sadr's Mahdi Army in the city, scene of
13 days of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds.
The
group of eight drove to Sadr's office seeking to end a rebellion in
the holy city and other parts of
Iraq
.
The
group, led by Sadr’s relative Sheikh Hussein Al-Sadr, relayed a call
from the National
Conference to disarm his militia and leave the holy shrine of
Imam Ali.
The
delegation flew in on US Black Hawk helicopters from the National
Conference in Baghdad where 1,300 delegates sought to select an interim national assembly to
oversee the government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
The
event, scheduled to end on Tuesday, was extended to Wednesday, August
18, after many delegates opposed a list of 81 candidates presented to
the meeting by the pro-US interim government, conference chairman
Fouad Massoum said.
The
remaining 19 members will come from the Governing Council, a 25-member
body appointed by the US-led occupation before the June handover of
power.
The
conference put forward Monday, August 16, a new peace initiative with
Sadr to defuse the current standoff between the anti-occupation
firebrand Sadr and the interim government of Iyad Allawi.
Most
of the summiteers have called
on Sadr to leave the Imam Ali Shrine and relinquish the holy
sites to the interim government.
Continued
Aggressions
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The delegation waited for Sadr for three hours in Imam Ali mosque
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Another
Sadr aide told reporters accompanying the delegation that Sadr refused
to meet them "because of continued aggression by the
Americans".
The
delegation had met Sadr's top aides and waited for the young leader
for three hours at the city's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali Mosque,
where many of Sadr's fighters are holed up.
Sadr's
top aide Sheikh Ali Smeisim, who met with the delegation, tried to
soften the impact of Sadr's failure to show up.
"What
we heard [from the delegation] contains positive indications. We are
willing to discuss them," he said.
He
had told the delegation that Sadr was at a "secret location"
and would come if the
US
forces eased its noose around the shrines.
There
were chaotic scenes when the delegation arrived inside the Imam Ali
shrine.
More
than 1,000 young men shouted, beat their chests, raised their fists in
the air and chanted "long live Moqtada."
The
US
occupation forces launched
a sweeping offensive Thursday, August 12, in a bid to crush
down the uprising of the Mahdi Army.
Iraqi
Sunni and Shiite leaders slammed the Najaf clashes as a "bloodbath"
and called upon the international community to rein in the American
forces in
Iraq
.
The
bloody
US
offensive, described by law experts as amounting
to genocide, came amid signs of serious cracks among the ranks
of the Iraqi government.
Ongoing
Fighting
After
waiting in vain for Al-Sadr to show up, the group drove to the
governor's headquarters as fighting raged in the cemetery, where US
gunship helicopters fired on fighters who responded by firing mortars
and machine guns at US and Iraqi government forces.
Sporadic
clashes resumed in the flashpoint town early Wednesday after a
relatively quite night.
Scattered
gunshots and mortar fire broke the silence around the revered Imam Ali
shrine, the vast cemetery and the 1920 Revolution Square from around 6:00 am
(0200 GMT), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
US
troops supported by Iraqi security forces have effectively sealed off
An-Najaf's historic Old City, trapping Sadr's Mahdi Army inside.
