Al-Sadr loyalists touting cease-fire

BAGHDAD -- Clerics loyal to radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr called on his followers Friday to respect a cease-fire and asked them to try to make peace with rival factions.

The appeals came as authorities ordered a one-day vehicle ban in the city of Baqouba after deadly suicide bombings and other attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq against predominantly Sunni fighters who have allied with the United States.

The U.S. military has stepped up operations against al-Qaida cells and networks north of Baghdad in Diyala province, of which Baqouba is the capital.

The overwhelmingly Sunni groups have increasingly become the targets of deadly attacks following a Dec. 29 call by Osama bin Laden that labeled them as traitors.

Known as Awakening Councils in some areas and as Concerned Local Citizens in others, the groups have been considered one of the factors that led to a 60 percent drop in violence around Iraq in the past six months. The others are an inflow of tens of thousands of U.S. troops and the cease-fire declared in August by al-Sadr for his Mahdi Army militia.

The Sadrist calls for peace came during Friday prayers in the Shiite holy city of Kufa and the cleric's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. They appeared to be part of ongoing attempt by al-Sadr to patch things up with two of Iraq's more influential Shiite movements: Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the largest Shiite political party, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party.

"We Sadrists are moving in the way of Muqtada's peaceful initiatives in the provinces, and especially the ones that witnessed violence," Abdul Hadi al-Mohammadawi, a senior aide to al-Sadr, said in his sermon.

In August, followers of al-Sadr and those loyal to al-Hakim fought in the holy city of Karbala during a religious festival, killing 52 people. In October, the two leaders signed a truce, which has largely held.

"We think that the best way to solve existing problems and provide all with the chance to reach the shores of peace is a comprehensive dialogue, instead of acts of violence," al-Mohammadawi told worshippers.

On Thursday, al-Sadr's representatives met with officials from al-Hakim's party in Kufa, 100 miles south of Baghdad.

Al-Mohammadawi also warned the leaders of "Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council that there are some people who do not want this peace to be accomplished in their provinces," and he said that "if you want peace, you should expel them from their posts."

In Sadr City, a cleric loyal to al-Sadr urged Mahdi Army members to honor the cease-fire declared by their leader.

"We praise the positive role of the Imam al-Mahdi Army for obeying its leader's freezing order, until God wishes otherwise," said Sheik Jasim al-Metery, referring to the militia by its full name in his sermon.

Al-Metery condemned rogue elements of the militia who were "defaming" al-Sadr by violating his cease-fire, which many expect will be extended.

The cease-fire has allowed the U.S. military to concentrate on pursuing al-Qaida in Iraq, which was pushed out of Anbar province by the Awakening Councils and largely expelled from swaths of Baghdad by the U.S. and Iraqi armies.

The majority of the insurgents are thought to have sought shelter in Diyala province, its northeast Diyala river valley region, and around the town of Muqdadiyah and the northern city of Mosul.

The U.S. military said it killed two insurgents and detained 12 in that area. The operations also resulted in the deaths of two American soldiers and the wounding of another in a small-arms attack Thursday.

Baqouba police chief Brigadier Hasan al-Obaidi said the one-day vehicle ban was imposed because of the "increased violent events during last week." The ban in the city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad also aimed to protect worshippers going to mosques.

There have been a series of suicide attacks targeting members of the burgeoning Sunni tribal movement, including one in Baqouba on Wednesday that police said killed seven people; the U.S. military said four people died.

In another development, the U.S. military said it killed a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Muhammad Khalil Ibrahim, in a Dec. 28 airstrike in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. It identified him as "the deputy military leader for the al-Qaida in Iraq network operating south of Baghdad."

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Associated Press writer Hamid Ahmed contributed to this story from Baghdad.