Iraqi cleric Sadr's bloc to quit govt

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would pull out from the government on Monday to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

Officials from the movement, which holds six ministries and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite Alliance, said the formal announcement would be made on Monday at a news conference.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis answered a call by Sadr to rally in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf last week to protest against the presence of some 140,000 U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

The move is unlikely to bring down the government, but it could create tensions in Maliki's fractious Shi'ite-led government of national unity at a time when it is trying to heal deep sectarian divisions.

"We are going to declare our withdrawal from government because the prime minister does not want to make a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq," said one official in Sadr's movement who declined to be named.

U.S. President George W. Bush said last week that setting timetables for a troop withdrawal would undermine a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad, which he said was beginning to show signs of progress in curbing sectarian violence.

Maliki has also said he sees no need to set a timetable. He said his government was working to build up Iraq's security forces as quickly as possible so U.S.-led forces could leave.

The Sadrists ended a two-month boycott of parliament in January after pulling out in protest over the timetable issue and a meeting between Maliki and Bush. They returned after a deal was brokered.

A senior official in Sadr's movement, Abdul-Mehdi al-Muteyri, said Sadr had also ordered the pullout, saying Maliki was hamstrung by political parties in his government pulling him in different directions.

"We don't believe in partisan quotas. Under the direct orders of Moqtada al-Sadr we have decided we are going to leave the government in order to give the prime minister the best possible options so that he can run his government," said Muteyri.

The U.S. military says Sadr is in hiding in Iran, but the cleric's aides insist he is still in Iraq.

(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim)