Call for easing tension and unity in Iraq

Continued attacks in Iraq coincided with the time when the Iraqi leaders stressed their commitment to the efforts aiming to form a national unity government and ending sectarian acts of violence hitting the country since the Samara shrine explosions which took place last Wednesday.

The Iraqi prime minister whose term of office expired Ibrahim al-Jaafari said following a meeting in which Sunni and Kurd leaders that the participants agreed to accelerate the process and sign a national document among the components of the Iraqi society.

However, the leading figure in the Iraqi al-Tawafuk front Nasir al-Ani said that the Sunni are looking for tangible steps to end sectarianism before ending their boycott of the talks to forming the government.

This coincided with the arrival of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr to Basra back from a foreign tour, and his organization of a massive gathering there in which he called on each of the Sunni and the Shiite for coexistence and warned against blood bath among the Iraqis when they walk behind occupation plans.

Al-Sadr called on the Iraqis to carry out one united demonstration in Baghdad, Shiite and Sunni and non Muslim altogether demanding first the departure of the occupation forces and denouncing what had happened in Samara. He also called for a one united prayer for both the Sunni and Shiite in the mosques which were attacked.