Sadr slams Baghdad security plan

By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew his support for a security crackdown in Baghdad on Sunday, hours after a female suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 40 in a student college.

Police earlier said the bomber at the Baghdad Economy and Administration College was a man. But they later said it was a women, who blew herself up in the lobby of the college after she was stopped by guards.

The move by Sadr, an anti-American cleric, is a blow for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who on Saturday had expressed optimism about the U.S.-backed offensive.

Until now, Sadr has supported the plan, seen as a last ditch attempt to halt all-out civil war in Iraq. He said it would not work because U.S. forces were involved.

"There is no benefit in this security plan because it is controlled by the occupiers," said an aide to Sadr, reading a statement from the cleric in front of thousands of chanting supporters in the firebrand's stronghold of Sadr City.

"(The United States) is watching car bombs explode, taking the souls of thousands of innocent Iraqi people."

Sadr led his Mehdi Army militia in two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004. The militia has avoided any confrontation with U.S. forces this time and there was no indication in Sadr's statement that this position would change.

Sadr is now an important player in Iraqi politics, and is a key supporter of Maliki.