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Shi'ite leader appeals for calm
From correspondents in Karbala, Iraq
07apr04

A REPRESENTATIVE of Shi'ite Muslim spiritual leader Ali Sistani today made a fresh call for calm and restoration of law and order in the wake of bloody clashes between US-led coalition forces and Shi'ite radicals.

"We appeal for calm and restoration of public order and we hope to settle this problem peacefully," Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai said.

Karbalai also slammed the US military crackdown on militiamen loyal to radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr, stressing that "dialogue was possible" and that "firing without any reason was not justified".

On Monday, Sistani already appealed for calm after coalition forces moved against Sadr's followers who were responding to a call from the firebrand cleric to demonstrate.

The clashes have since left more than 100 Iraqis and 20 coalition troops dead.

Today, Sistani sent an aide to see Sadr "to express his sympathy and inform him of a fatwa (religious edict) appealing for calm", Sadr aide Qais al-Khazaali told reporters.

Sadr said he was putting himself at the disposal of Sistani but did not say whether he intended to heed his fatwa.

"I proclaim my solidarity with Ali Sistani and he should know that I am his military wing in Iraq and wherever he so desires," the radical leader said in a communique distributed after his meeting with Sistani's emissaries.

Sadr, who is the target of an arrest warrant in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year, decided to observe a three-day fast and urged both Sunnis and Shi'ites to join.

He expressed the hope that "Sunni brothers will succeed in liberating their region", a reference to the insurgency waged by anti-coalition rebels in the Fallujah area west of Baghdad.

"They should know that we are one hundred per cent behind them as long as they reject the occupation," Sadr said.