Top Shiite cleric urges end to sectarian violence
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's top Shiite cleric urged his followers Thursday to refrain from reprisal violence against Sunnis, his strongest call yet for an end to increasing sectarian bloodshed that threatens to erupt into full-scale civil war.
The statement by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani came as U.S. military officials reported a 40% increase in the daily average of attacks in the Baghdad area.
U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said there has been an average of 34 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in the capital over the past five days. The daily average for the period June 14 until July 13 was 24 a day, he said.
"We have not witnessed the reduction in violence one would have hoped for in a perfect world," Caldwell said at a news briefing Thursday. "The only way we're going to be successful in Baghdad is to get the weapons off the streets."
Caldwell said attacks have increased despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's call for a crackdown, with militias and death squads only intensifying attacks to derail the new unity government.
Last month, al-Maliki announced a security plan for Baghdad, including up to 50,000 police and soldiers on the streets, more checkpoints, and raids in neighborhoods where violence is high. But with surging attacks in the capital — including a spate of kidnappings of high-ranking Iraqi officials — leading politicians from Shiite and Sunni parties have declared the plan a failure.
Officials said Thursday that four more people abducted last weekend during an Olympic Committee meeting had been released, bringing the number freed to 10. But dozens are still missing, including National Olympic Committee chairman Ahmed al-Hijiya.
Until now, al-Sistani has been credited with restraining the majority Shiite community from widespread retaliation against Sunnis in the face of horrific attacks on Shiite civilians by al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni religious extremists.
But the ability of the aged cleric to continue holding back Shiite militias and continued
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