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Baghdad: Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr on Saturday threatened an "open war" against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and US security forces on his followers.
The threat of a full-scale uprising by Sadr sharply raises the stakes in his confrontation with Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, who has threatened to ban the anti-American cleric's movement from political life unless he disbands his militia.
A rebellion by Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, which has tens of thousands of fighters, could abruptly end a period of lower violence at a time when US forces are starting to leave Iraq.
"I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government, either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace, or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government," Sadr said, referring to Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, without elaborating.
He added, "If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, then we will declare an open war until liberation."
Sadr's movement accuses other Shiite parties of getting their militias into the Iraqi security forces, especially in southern Shiite Iraq where various factions are competing for influence in a region home to most of Iraq's oil output.
Sadr launched two uprisings against US forces in 2004.
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