Haideri Shrine reportedly booby-trapped as NC urges Sadr to leave

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY CITY OF NAJAF, Iraq: The sacred Imam Ali (p) shrine in the holy city of Najaf is being held by twenty-five aggressors who have booby-trapped it with explosives, CNN reported Monday as Iraq's National Conference agreed to send a delegation to meet Moqtada As-Sadr and encourage him to withdraw from the holy mausoleum.

In a written statement, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said the heavily armed unidentified group was threatening to blow up the building if attacked. Accordingly, the interim Iraqi government has ordered National Guard forces not to target the shrine, and not to approach it. US troops are under similar orders.

Meanwhile, National Conference in Baghdad on the proposal of Sheikh Hussein As-Sadr voted to dispatch a negotiating team to the holy city of Najaf to urge Moqtada Sadr and his militia to stop fighting, leave the shrine, lay down their weapons and reconfigure themselves as a political group.

As-Sadr and his followers have fought US and Iraqi forces from within the Imam Ali (p) shrine, one of most sacred sites.

“This is not right. We demand Moqtada As-Sadr withdraw from the holy shrine because it's not the specific property of one person,” Hussein As-Sadr, a distant cousin to the cleric, told the conference. “It belongs to everybody. Shrines should not be controlled by one man, regardless of his status.”

According to delegation member Raja Khuzaie the group will arrive in Najaf by Tuesday morning.

Journalists have been ordered out of the city by police. Observers say the move indicates a major assault on the city is imminent.

The United Nations special envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, has also said the UN is willing to take a negotiating role in Najaf, if invited, and if all sides agree.

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