Rebel cleric vows to continue fighting

The militant Shiite cleric whose uprising in April left hundreds dead pledged to resist “oppression and occupation” and called the new interim Iraqi government “illegitimate”.

Muqtada al-Sadr made the declaration in a statement in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where his al-Mahdi militia battled American troops until a cease-fire last month.

“We pledge to the Iraqi people and the world to continue resisting oppression and occupation to our last drop of blood,” al-Sadr said. “Resistance is a legitimate right and not a crime to be punished.”

Previously, Al-Sadr had made conciliatory statements to the new government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a fellow Shiite, and members of his movement had suggested they might transform the al-Mahdi Army into a political party.

The young cleric said: “There is no truce with the occupier and those who cooperate with it.

“We announce that the current government is illegitimate and illegal,” al-Sadr said. “It’s generally following the occupation. We demand complete sovereignty and independence by holding honest elections.”

Al-Sadr issued a statement on June 12 saying he was ready for a dialogue with the new government if it worked to end the US military presence.

It was unclear what prompted his apparent reversal.

Earlier, Allawi told America’s ABC television that he had met with al-Sadr representatives “who want to try and mediate”.

“The position of the government is very clear,” Allawi said. “There is no room for any militias to operate inside Iraq. Anything outside law and order is not tolerated, cannot be tolerated. The rule of law should prevail. Every one of us, every individual, starting from the president downward should be answerable to the law.”

Insurgents fired rockets at a government building in Basra, southern Iraq, early today, but instead struck nearby homes, wounding eight people, police said.

The attacks shortly after midnight were directed at the province’s main offices near the centre of the city.

The insurgents “missed and hit nearby homes instead”, said Captain Mushtaq Khaled of the Basra Police.

Violence continued throughout Iraq yesterday as Iraqi troops thwarted a car bombing outside their regional headquarters northeast of Baghdad, killing an attacker before he could detonate his vehicle.

Two bystanders also died in the assault in Baqouba, the scene of fierce fighting last week between American soldiers and insurgents who tried to seize government buildings and police stations.

A land mine detonated along the main route to the southern city of Samawah, where Japanese troops are based, police officials said. There were no reports of injuries, but the route is used frequently by coalition forces.

The fate of Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, a kidnapped US Marine of Lebanese origin, remained unclear.

A website statement on Saturday attributed to the Ansar al-Sunna Army said he had been beheaded. But yesterday, the group issued a statement on its own website saying the earlier declaration was false.

Hassoun’s abduction was first reported on June 27, when the Arab television station Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape showing him blindfolded. A statement from militants threatened to kill him unless the United States released all Iraqis in “occupation jails".