KUFAH, Oct 17: Firebrand Iraqi leader Moqtada Sadr on Friday claimed the United States was inciting strife among Shias as part of a scheme to arrest him and foil his plan to set up a government.

In his weekly sermon, Moqtada Sadr revived, and even sought UN recognition for, his planned Islamic-style government, which he earlier said he had abandoned just days after he announced it last week.

“America is trying to practise all kinds of terrorist (actions) against me, especially since the announcement of the new state,” Moqtada Sadr told worshippers in the town of Kufah, near Najaf.

“They are seeking to harm the reputation of the Sadr movement in order to be able to arrest me on the legal pretext of inciting conflicts in Karbala and other cities,” he said.

In his previous Friday sermon, Sadr claimed he had formed a government that included a religious affairs ministry and another responsible for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice.

But on Wednesday, Sadr said “until now there have been no demonstrations of public support for this government, and as a result, I cannot create it”.

Since then, several hundred people took to the streets of Najaf to support Sadr’s proposal for a government to rival the US-installed Iraqi interim Governing Council.

Sadr also said he was seeking to obtain international recognition for his rival government.

“We will seek to obtain recognition for the announced government by the United Nations. If the UN finds a legitimate government that represents the (Iraqi) people, it will recognize it,” he said.

“We will also seek the recognition of neighbouring countries,” Sadr added.

In Karbala, the US-led administration imposed a night-time curfew after clashes on Monday between Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia and followers of other religious leaders that left at least one person dead and over twenty wounded.

The incidents started when followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani prevented about 100 Sadr militiamen from taking control of Karbala’s holy shrines. —AFP