Cleric demands militias quit cities

IRAQ’S most influential Shi’ite cleric yesterday demanded that all armed groups withdraw from the embattled holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, where nine militiamen loyal to a rebel cleric were killed in heavy fighting with US forces.

The statement by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani came after the US administrator in Iraq vowed to continue the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis as scheduled despite Monday’s killing of the head of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

“Terrorists are trying to stop Iraq’s march to sovereignty and peace,” US administrator Paul Bremer said at a memorial service in Baghdad for Izzadine Saleem, who was killed by a suicide bomber on Monday at a checkpoint near coalition headquarters.