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Sadr: Reinstate sacked troops
14/04/2008 21:04 - (SA)
Najaf - Iraq's hardline Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday urged that 1 300 troops and police sacked for failing to do their duty during a crackdown on Shi'ite militias be reinstated.
"The brothers in the army and the police who handed their weapons to their brothers in the Mahdi Army were following the orders of their religious leaders and schools," Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the central holy city of Najaf.
"The handing over of weapons was for a religious cause. So I call upon those concerned to review the decision to dismiss these people from the army and the police. I also urge a return to their jobs after honouring them for the devotion they showed towards their religion and their country."
Hundreds of Iraqi troops and police are reported to have either deserted or joined the other side during a government offensive against Shi'ite militias, mostly gunmen from Sadr's Mahdi Army, in Basra and Kut that began on March 25.
On Sunday the government announced it had dismissed 1 300 policemen and soldiers for failing to perform their duty during the crackdown.
"There were many complaints against them. They were part of these operations but they did not perform the duties they were supposed to," interior ministry spokesperson Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf told AFP.
The crackdown triggered violence in other Shi'ite regions of Iraq, including Baghdad, resulting in at least 700 people killed, according to the United Nations.
Fighting has continued in the Mahdi Army's stronghold of Sadr City in the capital.
- AFP
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