BAGHDAD, Iraq: Sayyed Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's biggest political group, warned against sectarian strife asking the Iraqi government to exert more efforts in their fight with terrorists as escalating violence claimed several innocents.

Al-Hakim, who is the son of late Grand Marjay of Shiia World Sayyed Mohsin Al-Hakim and the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), made the call a day after terrorists martyred a prominent cleric Kamal Ezzid-Deen Al-Ghuraifi.

“We ask the Iraqi courts to hurry up in trying these criminals and in carrying out the death sentence against those who deserve it and not to stall and find irresponsible excuses,” he said.

“The Iraqis sense a lack of seriousness from these bodies regarding carrying out their judicial duties and feel that justice is not being served through serious trials.”

“We ask all the honorable people and the sons of Iraq, particularly our alert and brave youth, to confront these criminal gangs and to defend their sanctities and clerics and to cooperate with the security bodies.”