BAGHDAD, April 25: Hundreds of worshippers at a leading mosque in Baghdad on Friday denounced the US occupation of Iraq and vowed to launch a jihad if the troops did not withdraw soon.

“We are running out of patience with the Americans here,” said Ammar al Azami after prayers at the Abu Hanifa mosque, long a stronghold of loyalists to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

“The Americans won’t leave because they are after our oil, water and land. They also want to settle here to protect Israel,” he said.

“But they’re wrong to believe they’ll succeed and that we’ll stay silent. We were waiting for a fatwa (religious decree) from our ulema to fight back,” he warned.

“They don’t respect anything, not our land, not our people. They even shelled this mosque,” said Ala Hussein. “We’re keeping quiet just because our ulema have asked us to.”

The mosque, in Baghdad’s northern Al-Azamieh neighbourhood, was shelled by US forces on April 9 during fierce fighting with Saddam loyalists after the former Iraqi president was spotted in the area. Banners on the mosque’s wall read “Pull out tanks, don’t provoke people” and “No to Shiaism, no Sunnism, yes to Islamic unity”.

“The Americans came here to liberate us from Saddam, it’s fine, but now what? There is no security, no electricity and chaos has taken over,” said Ibrahim, another worshipper.

“Our silence won’t last. The day our ulema tell us to fight, the Iraqi people, Sunnis and Shias united will rise in arms,” he said.

“We have weapons, we will blow ourselves up like the Palestinians,” shouted another man in crowd, referring to suicide bombers who carry out anti-Israeli attacks.

“There will be 100 Osama bin Ladens here if the Americans don’t pull out,” threatened another angry man. The men also said a government of Iraqi exiles imposed by the United States was unacceptable.

“Who are these people from outside? A five-star opposition made in the USA,” charge Saber al-Alami.

“We have capable people inside Iraq; they will make themselves known when the time is ripe,” he said, declining, however, to name anybody in Iraq’s indigenous opposition.

“We must unite beyond our religious differences, we must form a government from inside,” said Ala Hussein.

SHIA LEADER: The second-in-command of Iraq’s main Shia group also opposed the US presence, saying Iraqis would not accept a government imposed by Washington.—AFP