Iraq's Sadr admits splits in Mahdi group

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) — AIraq's firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has acknowledged splits within his movement as he explained the reasons for his long absence from the public eye, in a statement released on Friday.

Sadr, who last month extended the ceasefire of his Mahdi Army militia, said in the statement bearing his personal seal and released in the holy city of Najaf that his movement was witnessing splits as some leaders had broken away.

"Many of my close companions have departed for worldly reasons, some of them want to be independent," Sadr said.

"The fact that a number of people did not return to their houza (religious school) and the fact that many are meddling in political lives while we thought they were loyal has made me isolate myself" from...