Sadr's men wait for call to fight

Sadr's men wait for call to fight
AP
September 01, 2004
NAJAF: Since his Shi'ite militia put down their weapons and ended their uprising in Najaf last week, Abdul Sahib has slept in a different house every night, hiding from revenge-seeking residents. And yet the 25-year-old says he would fight again.

Aides of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday called on his Shi'ite followers across Iraq to observe a ceasefire and said the cleric was considering forming a political movement.

But despite the Najaf peace deal and Monday's ceasefire call, Sadr's Mehdi Army militia is still largely intact and armed, and many worry that its fighters, like Sahib, are ready to fight another day.

"The situation is still not safe," said Lieutenant-Colonel Flayeh Abdul Hassan, a police official in this southern holy city. "If it weren't for the truce, they would have been destroyed ... it's a golden opportunity for them."


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