Sunnis surge beyond Baghdad

"This massacre just confirms what the association has always warned about, that is the complicity between government forces and militias in the pursuit of a hateful sectarian policy that serves only the interests of the enemies of our nation," said the Association of Muslim Scholars in a statement issued last week.

The Association's spokesman, Sheikh Bashar al-Faydhi, said in a phone interview from Amman that his group was willing "to issue a call to the resistance to lay down its weapons if America suspended its support for the current government and put a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops."

Another vociferous government critic, Sunni parliamentarian Adnan al-Dulaimi, also put out a statement warning that events in Tal Afar "threaten to push matters into the abyss, and the government and the US occupation forces must realize the gravity of these crimes, otherwise all hell will break loose ... and the flames will consume everyone."

Although the Iraqi government has sent its Army to keep the peace in Tal Afar and promised to prosecute the policemen involved in the revenge slayings, emotions were still high amid concerns that the fallout from events in Tal Afar would continue to reverberate throughout the country.

Families of the slain Sunnis were so terrified to go back to town that they decided to bury their loved ones in a nearby village, says Mohammed Taher, an official with the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Mosul.

"I blame the government and no one else," says Mr. Taher, a Sunni.

Sectarian sermons from the street

"I tell everyone from this pulpit that we will have our say if these massacres do not stop," warned Sheikh Suhail al-Uqabi in a sermon Friday held in the open air in Sadr's bastion of Sadr City in Baghdad.

"Labeik Moqtada!" shouted the crowd in unison, signifying that they were ready to follow the black-turbaned cleric.

In a clear show of strength and defiance, thousands of Sadr's partisans had gathered for the prayers at the end of Falah street in the heart of the district amid very tight security by Mahdi Army gunmen.

Sheikh Uqabi then read a statement by Sadr calling for a rally against the US presence to be held in the shrine city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, April 9, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Hussein's regime. A similar protest that attracted hundreds of thousands was held two years ago in Baghdad.

"I renew my demand for the withdrawal of the occupier from our land ... because this will mean the stability of Iraq, a victory for peace and Islam and a defeat for terror and infidels," read the statement.

Sadr, who has not appeared in public since the start of the security crackdown and is believed by US officials to be in neighboring Iran, along with other senior members of his movement, accused Washington of fomenting sectarian strife and even orchestrating attacks against civilians so that it can justify its presence in the country.

Uqabi then told everyone to remain in their place for five minutes after the prayers to honor those killed in the bombings last week.

"These events are proof that the security plan must be in the hands of Iraqis [and not the Americans].... The Sadr movement is being targeted while the extremists are free to roam the country and do what they will," says Sadrist member of parliament Falah Shanshal who attended the prayers.

US troops have been patrolling Sadr City and conducting raids against the hideouts of militiamen affiliated to Sadr since reestablishing a permanent presence there in early March. Mr. Maliki's alliance with the Sadrists may be strained further should attacks against Shiites and the stepped up pressure on Sadr's movement continue.

• Abbas al-Sarai contributed to this report.

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