Radical Shi’ite Cleric Al-Sadr to Decide on Extending Or Ending Iraqi Cease-Fire

Iraq’s radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is expected to decide this week whether to extend or end a six-month cease-fire between his Mahdi Army militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces.

A Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said Wednesday the cleric will make the decision in the coming days.

Al-Sadr called for the cease-fire last August. U.S. commanders credit the truce as a major factor behind cutting attacks in Iraq by more than half since June.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber killed at least seven people and wounded 15 in a market north of Baghdad in the town of Muqdadiya.

The U.S. military also announced Wednesday that a roadside bomb killed three American soldiers when it hit their convoy in Baghdad.

No one has claimed responsibility for the late Tuesday attack.

Earlier Tuesday, Iraqi police said a series of rockets exploded as bomb disposal experts tried to defuse them, killing at least 15 people and wounding at least 27 others in Baghdad. Authorities believe many of the dead are policemen.

Also in Baghdad, an Iraqi court delayed the trial of two former officials accused of links to Shi’ite death squads.

The trial had been due to begin Tuesday, but the proceedings were postponed until March second because some witnesses failed to show.

The two defendants are Iraq’s former deputy health minister, Hakim al-Zamili, and the former head of the health ministry’s security forces, Brigadier General Hameed al-Shimmari. They are accused of helping Shi’ite militiamen from the Mahdi Army use ambulances and hospitals to kidnap and kill their rivals.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

by VOA News

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