BAGHDAD, May 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), Iraq's highest Sunni religious authority, has drown up a code of honor to nip in the bud sectarian strife in the US-occupied country.

The document, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, was given to representatives of young Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sad, negotiating between Sunnis and other Shiite powers.

It urges all Iraqi parties to avoid all acts fueling sectarian division in the country and to work for Iraq's supreme interests.

The document also pressed for an end to all practices which might enflame the situation in the country whether from politicians, officials or the media.

Sadr decided to mediate after AMS Secretary General Sheikh Hareth Al-Dhari accused the military arm of the Shiite Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq of abducting and assassinating Sunni scholars.

“It is the Badr Brigades which is responsible for these killings. I take responsibility for what I am saying,” Al-Dhari told a news conference on May 19, referring to the Shiite militias.

The AMS also proposed forming a higher committee grouping representatives from Iraq's influential parties to follow up the implementation of the code and work out solutions to emerging problems.

Adnan Al-Deleimi, the chairman of the Sunni Waqfs body, on April 26 called for holding a general convention bringing together Iraqis representing the country’s religious and ethnic rainbow to nip any sectarian strife in the bud.

The initiative was welcomed by leading Shiite figures, including Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Al-Madrasi, the Shiite authority in the southern holy city of Karbala.

The new code of honor also reiterated opposition to the US-occupation of the county and called for using "all possible and legitimate means" to bring it to an end.

"The catastrophic situation in Iraq will only be solved once occupation forces leave the country for good," it read.

Iraq’s Sunnis have recently formed an alliance of religious, political and social groups to streamline their political participation and unify the ranks of all Sunnis, whether Arabs, Turkomans or Kurds.

Continuing attacks and crackdown against Sunni scholars and mosques, however, still pose a threat to the possible success of the new Sunni overture.

On Monday, Sheikh Abdel Salam Ali Hussein Al-Zubeidi, an AMS member, was arrested by an Interior Ministry special force, known as the "Wolf Brigade", in the Abu Ghraib neighborhood while returning home, the influential group said in a statement.

It also accused Iraqi security forces of attacking Sunnis in five mosques across Baghdad.