Radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is blaming al-Qaeda for the carnage caused by a triple bombing in Baghdad's Sadr City slum yesterday in which at least 48 people were killed.
Speaking at a news conference in the Shia holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, al-Sadr also called for calm in an attempt to avoid revenge attacks.
"We are not weak, but we don't want to be dragged to a civil war. So, I will keep calling for calm," the cleric said.
By blaming Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda fighters for the attack, al-Sadr has lifted the onus of blame from the mainstream Sunni community.
Sectarian feelings in the country were inflamed to the brink of civil war by last month's bombing of a Shia shrine and the subsequent revenge killings that targeted the Sunni community and damaged and destroyed dozens of mosques.
