Low Graphics Site
 
 
 
 
|
|
|
|
August 09, 2008
|
Saturday
|
Sha’aban 6, 1429
|
Sadr to disarm if US withdraws on timetable
BAGHDAD, Aug 8: Anti-American Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr would dissolve his Mehdi Army militia if the United States started withdrawing troops according to a set timetable, a spokesman said.
A car bomb in the northern town of Tal Afar killed 18 people and wounded 25, police said, an attack that demonstrated the potential for violence that persists in a country that has become far more peaceful over the past year.
Police said the bomb struck a crowded vegetable market. The town is near the city of Mosul, in an area where US-backed Iraqi forces have launched a crackdown on Al Qaeda militants in recent months.
US forces said 15 people were killed and 50 wounded.
Sadr’s decision to link disarming his militia to a US withdrawal comes at a crucial point in talks between Baghdad and Washington over a security pact to provide a legal basis for US troops in Iraq when a UN mandate expires at the end of the year.—Reuters
|
