Radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is in Iraq and has not left for Iran, his aides said today, after American officials suggested he may have departed to avoid an offensive against militants.
The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
The conflicting reports over the anti-American cleric's whereabouts came after Iraq said yesterday it would close its borders with Iran and Syria and lengthen a night curfew in Baghdad to try to curb unrelenting violence in the capital.
Four of Sadr's aides said he was still in Iraq. Some said he was in the holy Shia city of Najaf but had reduced public appearances for "security reasons". They did not elaborate.
"He is now in Iraq," said Nassar al-Rubaei, head of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq's parliament, reiterating the Sadrists backing for an offensive in Baghdad that is seen as a final attempt to prevent all-out sectarian civil war.
"We fully support this security plan. It would make no sense for our leadership to escape it."
Iran's IRNA news agency quoted an official who denied Sadr had arrived in the Islamic Republic.
Washington says Sadr 's Mehdi Army militia is the biggest threat to Iraq's security and has urged Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to disarm it.
But Maliki relies on Sadr for political support. Sadr 's movement holds a quarter of the parliamentary seats in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.
The youthful firebrand cleric has been keeping a low profile in recent months because of worsening security in Iraq. He normally lives in Najaf -- not Baghdad -- but his stronghold is the capital's sprawling Shi'ite slum called Sadr City.
Two US officials in Washington spoke to Reuters about Sadr after the ABC News network reported he had fled to Iran because of fears he might be targeted by US bombing raids and worries over his safety because of fracturing within his movement.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said the US military believed Sadr had left Iraq for Iran. US officials in Baghdad said they had no information on his location.
In a report on CNN, administration officials said Sadr 's departure may have been prompted by President George W. Bush's plan to add 21,500 troops in Iraq to help the Baghdad crackdown.
US military officials say the offensive is in its early stages and that it will take months to peak. Previous attempts to halt carnage in the capital have failed and critics see the latest plan as too little, too late.