JEDDAH, Dec 7: Islamic states called on clerics from Iraq's warring Shia and Sunni sects on Thursday to urge their followers to respect an October pledge to refrain from shedding the blood of Muslims.

The secretary general of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has written to clerics recalling their commitment “to put an end to the fratricide and ethnic strife by proscribing the shedding of Muslim blood”, a statement said.

“Why don't you call on your followers to put an end to this butchery as you vowed before God in His holy Haram?” Ihsanoglu said, referring to Makkah, the Muslim holy city, where the October pledge was signed.

“The present carnage requires you to do everything you can to honour your duty.” The Oct 21 pledge was signed by 29 Sunni and Shia clerics amid peace calls during the Muslim fasting month of the Ramazan. But the month ended up being Iraq's bloodiest since the 2003 US-led invasion with well over 100 deaths a day.—AFP