Reports: Al-Sadr suspends Mahdi Army militia activity

Above: Members of the Mahdi Army. Tensions have been rising for months between the two primary Shia militias known as the Badr Brigade and the Mahdi Army as each struggles for political dominance. The Badr Brigade is the paramilitary force of the largest Shia political bloc, the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq. The Mahdi Army is the paramilitary force of the Sadrists, headed by Moqtada al-Sadr. The Iraqi security forces are heavily infiltrated by both, with each having varying amounts of control in different areas. Below: A scene from Sadr City. Al-Sadr has built his following from millions of the poorest Iraqis, and his organization has provided food, money and medical care when none else was available.

Al-Sadr Suspends Militia Activity in Iraq

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, an aide said Wednesday.

The aide, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, said on Iraqi state television that the goal was to "rehabilitate" the organization, which has reportedly broken into factions, some of which the U.S. maintains are trained and supplied by Iran.

"We declare the freezing of the Mahdi Army without exception in order to rehabilitate it in a way that will safeguard its ideological image within a maximum period of six months starting from the day this statement is issued," al-Araji said, reading from a statement by al-Sadr.

The order was issued after two days of bloody clashes in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that claimed at least 52 lives. Iraqi security officials blamed Mahdi militiamen for attacking mosque guards, some of whom are linked to the rival Badr Brigade militia.

Read the rest at Forbes

Iraq's Sadr suspends activity of his militia

Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr suspended the activities of his feared Mehdi Army militia on Wednesday after gunbattles killed 52 people and forced hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to flee a holy city.

The battles in Kerbala appeared to pit Iraq's two biggest Shi'ite groups against each other -- followers of Sadr and his Mehdi Army, and the rival Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), whose armed wing controls police in much of the south...

Sadr, a youthful anti-American cleric, set up the Mehdi Army in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The militia launched two uprisings against U.S. forces the following year. The Pentagon in the past has called it the greatest threat to peace in Iraq...

Earlier, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to Kerbala and announced his forces had restored order in the city.

But the violence among Shi'ites spread overnight, with gunmen attacking SIIC offices in at least five cities and setting many of them ablaze.

Read the rest at Reuters

Sadr 'freezes' militia activities

Radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr says he is freezing the activities of his Mehdi Army militia for up to six months in order to re-organise it.

He has also called on all its offices to co-operate with the security forces and exercise "self-control"...

In Najaf, another spokesman said the order included "suspending the taking up of arms against occupiers, as well as others"...

The militia has split in recent months into increasingly autonomous factions, some of which the US says are trained and armed by Iran.

Read the rest at BBC News

Iraqi Cleric Halts Militia Activities for 6 Months

Ahmad Al-Shaibani, the head of the media department in Mr. Sadr’s office in Najaf, accused security forces of opening fire on pilgrims and Sadrists.

“This decision will have great advantage: It will distinguish and isolate those who claim to be working for J.A.M. and they are actually not part of it,” he told reporters in Najaf, using the initials of the Arabic for the Mahdi Army, Jaish al-Mahdi. “J.A.M. is a huge and active body in Iraq, but there are some intruders who want to create rifts. We don’t have masked men working with us. There are people even from the forces of occupation who work and say that they are from J.A.M.”

Mr. Shaibani added, “We announce our readiness to cooperate with the state to end those intruders, who are considered members of J.A.M.”

He said the order meant there would be a halt to military operations, including a conditional halt to actions directed against the occupation forces.

“If there will be any provocative actions by them, we will consider this later,” he said. “People should not understand that we are resorting to peaceful resistance. This is not our strategy. We followed that in the past and it didn’t work. Our participation in the political process does not mean ending the resistance to the occupier, but we will stop for six months.”

Read the rest at the NY Times

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