Al-Sadr loyalists sign oath in blood to continue fighting

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By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

BAGHDAD | Dozens of Shi'ite radicals scrambled on Friday to sign blood oaths to continue their fight against U.S. forces in Iraq despite an order from their leader Muqtada al-Sadr for them to lay down their arms.

Children as young as 10 were among those seen cutting their thumbs with scalpels and putting a bloodied fingerprint to a document circulated by members of the al-Sadr movement in the cleric's eastern Baghdad bastion of Sadr City.

All vowed to fight on, despite orders by Sheik al-Sadr on Thursday to his 60,000-strong Mahdi Army militia to suspend their armed operations indefinitely.

The order followed two six-month periods in which he had ordered his followers to hold their fire.

“I will follow the orders of Muqtada al-Sadr but I prefer to fight,” said Adnan Habib, a 22-year-old laborer who attended Friday prayers in Sadr City.

“I want to sacrifice my soul, my family, for Sadr. I want to resist the occupier,” said Habib, who was among those signing blood oaths.

Another al-Sadr supporter, Ali Abdel, a 19-year-old high school student, said he had been wanting to join the ranks of the Mahdi Army since the death of his mother in an attack targeting a police patrol a year ago.

“My entire family has signed to fight, including my father. If my mother was alive, she would also have signed.”

When asked if he knows how to fight, Mr. Abdel replied with a broad smile: “Which Iraqi does not know how to use a weapon?”

An al-Sadr official, who asked not to be identified, said Sadrists began signing oaths in blood 16 days ago and would continue doing so until the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, due to start next week.

“This morning hundreds signed the pledge,” the official said. “Blood is most valuable and so we want to show our loyalty to Muqtada with it.”

The cleric's latest order came at a time when Washington and Baghdad are negotiating a crucial security agreement to decide the future of U.S. forces in Iraq.

“The Mahdi Army suspension will be valid indefinitely and anyone who does not follow this order will not be considered a member of this group,” Sheik al-Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf.

Sheik al-Sadr said he wants to create a special unit of fighters who would continue the armed resistance against coalition forces, while the Mahdi Army in general would be transformed into a cultural and social organization.

Falah Hassan Shanshal, a lawmaker from the al-Sadr bloc in parliament, said the cleric wanted to serve society.

“The philosophy of Muqtada al-Sadr is the same as that of his father Mohammed. Like his father, he wants to serve society and build society,” Mr. Shanshal told AFP.