Al-Sadr Blames al-Qaida for Baghdad Attack
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose directives can send thousands of heavily armed militiamen spilling into the streets, called for calm Monday and blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the carnage in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum that killed at least 48 people. Speaking at a news conference in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, al-Sadr also sought to blunt rage against Iraq’s minority Sunni Muslim community in a bid to prevent the country from slipping into full-blown civil war. Full Story