Iraq: Aide says Muqtada al-Sadr will disband militia if ordered by top Shiite clerics

The Associated Press
Published: April 7, 2008

BAGHDAD: An aide to Muqtada al-Sadr says the Mahdi Army leader will agree to disband his militia if ordered to do so by top Shiite clerics.

Hassan al-Zarqani, an al-Sadr aide currently in Iran, says al-Sadr will consult Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other top Shiite clerics if the government continues to pressure him to disband the militia.

The aide said Monday in a telephone interview that al-Sadr "will obey" if al-Sistani and the other clerics recommend that he do so.

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