Sadr back in Iran

Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gone back to neighbouring Iran, US military sources in Baghdad said yesterday. Earlier this year, US officials said the anti-American cleric was hiding in Iran to avoid a major security crackdown in...

Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gone back to neighbouring Iran, US military sources in Baghdad said yesterday.

Earlier this year, US officials said the anti-American cleric was hiding in Iran to avoid a major security crackdown in Baghdad, although his aides say he never left Iraq.

"Our sources do show Moqtada in Iran," one US military source said but a senior aide to Sadr denied the cleric had left Iraq.

Sadr disappeared from public view shortly before the launch of a US-led offensive in Baghdad in February but re-emerged in the holy Shi'ite Iraqi city of Kufa on May 25.

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