Cleric tells all fighters to leave 2 holy cities

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric on Tuesday demanded that all armed groups — including U.S. troops — withdraw from the embattled holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, where nine militiamen loyal to a rebel cleric were killed in heavy fighting with U.S. forces.

The statement by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani came after the U.S. administrator in Iraq vowed to continue the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis as scheduled despite Monday's killing of the head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

"Terrorists are trying to stop Iraq's march to sovereignty and peace," U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said at a memorial service in Baghdad for Izzadine Saleem, who was killed by a suicide bomber Monday at a checkpoint near coalition headquarters. "They will not succeed."

"We must continue the political process leading to an interim government next month and to elections next year," he added.

The killing was a major setback to American efforts to stabilize Iraq just six weeks before the June 30 handover of sovereignty.

The U.S.-led coalition is struggling to contain an insurgency in Sunni areas north and west of Baghdad, as well as an uprising in the Shiite heartland to the south led by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Sistani distributed a statement to reporters in Najaf making a balanced appeal to both sides to withdraw fighters from the holy cities. The call could complicate the Americans effort to drive the militia out of key cities in southern Iraq.

Al-Sistani's appeal was not put in the form of a religious edict, or fatwa, apparently to avoid the appearance of being an ultimatum.

Al-Sadr had called for peaceful demonstrations against incursions and damage to mosques and shrines in recent fighting, allegedly by American troops. The U.S. military says militiamen have used some Muslim holy places as firing positions and weapons storage sites.

"The office of Seyed al-Sistani directs all citizens not to go to the holy city of Najaf at the moment," the statement said, using the title for a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

It said peaceful demonstrations could be held at mosques in city centers to "protest the violation over these holy cities and the houses of the grand ayatollahs. Participants could demand the removal of all armed groups from these two cities and let the police and tribesmen play role in maintaining peace and order."

Moderate clerics, including al-Sistani, are believed to have tense relations with al-Sadr.