Al-Sahaf: US may have assassinated al-Sader

At the conclusion of his visit to Beirut yesterday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf said he does not exclude US involvement in the assassination of prominent Shiite man of religion Ayatollah Mohammed Sadek al-Sader to create a disturbance that serves US goals.

In a press conference, he added that Washington previously announced a plan to topple the Iraqi government and that it had specified $97 million for this.

US State Department spokesperson Jim Foley said yesterday that these allegations are "baseless and shocking and completely erroneous accusation. It is clear this is the fourth religious cleric who's been assassinated in Iraq in the last year. This is an esteemed religious figure who has been visited by and threatened by Saddam's security forces. We, for our part have been working with Iraqi opposition elements, to include Iraqi Shia groups who support the Ayatollah who was killed. We want to work with all Iraqi opposition groups to promote regime change in Iraq. We support, certainly, all of the people of Iraq. All of the groups that we support have committed themselves to the territorial integrity of Iraq, to religious tolerance, to respect for human rights and democracy. This is, by all accounts, another act of brutal repression on the part of the Iraqi regime."

Iraqi independent sources said that there was calm all over Iraq following reports by the Iraqi opposition of disorder following the announcement of al-Sader's assassination last week.

In El-Naseria city, 300 kilometers south of Baghdad, the Iraqi Ministry of Culture regulated a visit for the foreign reporters to the city to prove that the assertions of the opposition are not true.

The opposition had said that El-Naseria city was seized by Iraqi forces that shelled it with heavy artillery to end the disorder due to which at least 18 persons were killed.