Plea for calm after bombings

IRAQI Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for calm on Sunday following suicide bombings on Shi'ite Muslims and said the first priority after last month's elections should be for occupation forces to leave.

Sadr, who led two bloody uprisings against US-led troops in April and August, also told Arab satellite television Al Jazeera that he would not take part in Iraq's political process as long as US-led forces remained.

Suicide bombings on Friday and Saturday killed at least 50 while Shi'ite Muslims were marking Ashura, the most important day in their religious calendar. The attacks are believed to have been the work of Sunni militants.