Sadr: US is my enemy

2004-08-06 14:12

Kufa - Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada Sadr declared the United States his enemy on Friday, in a message read out by an aide, as fighting raged on for a second day between his militia and US forces.

"The Iraqi president said 'America is our friend', but I say 'America is our enemy'," said Sheikh Jaber al-Khafaji, reading a statement in this shrine town, just outside Najaf, where Sadr's militiamen were bombed by US planes earlier.

Sadr also warned Iraqi security forces against fighting alongside multinational troops.

"I warn Iraqi police not to attack any peaceful demonstration," Khafaji told worshippers at Kufa's main mosque on behalf of the cleric.

Sadr also reiterated his public pronouncement against participating in an upcoming national conference, which is to appoint an interim advisory body for the country's caretaker administration.

"This is not a national conference, this is an American conference and we will not take part".

During the fighting in Najaf, which began on Thursday, medics at the general hospital said they had received 15 dead and 43 wounded. Another three bodies were taken to Kufa hospital, along with nine wounded patients.

- AFP