By IRNA,
Baghdad : Iraqi cleric Moqtada al Sadr has threatened “open war” if the crackdown by Iraqi and US forces against his loyalists continues.
The statement ratchets up the tension between the cleric and Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
The US troops have launched a major military offensive on Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia and Maliki threatened to bar the cleric’s mass movement from political life.
“I’m giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government – either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace, or it will be the same as the previous government,” Sadr said, referring to Saddam Hussein’s fallen regime but without elaborating.
The cleric added: “If it does not stop the militias that have infiltrated the government, then we will declare an open war until liberation.”
Sadr accuses the Sunni parties of infiltrating their militias into the Iraqi security forces.
He issued his warning after Iraqi soldiers swooped on the Mehdi Army’s stronghold in the southern city of Basra. Iraqi officials said they now controlled the Hayaniya district.
The dawn raid by government troops there was backed by a bombardment by US warplanes and British artillery.
Police said 12 people had been killed in the Shia slum of Sadr City and hospitals said they received more than 130 wounded overnight.
Sadr has declared a ceasefire last August and has ordered the Mehdi Army not to engage with the Iraqi security forces.