Iraqis mourn slain politician, Sadr blames U.S.

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blamed the United States Friday for the assassination of a lawmaker who belonged to the cleric's parliamentary bloc, killed a day earlier in a bomb attack.

In the Baghdad district of Sadr City, men cried and shouted slogans as they carried and walked alongside Saleh al-Ugaili's coffin, draped in the Iraqi flag, before it was taken to a cemetery in the holy southern Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"The martyr gave most of his time to eject the occupiers ... And for this reason the hand of the hateful occupation and terrorism killed him," Sadr said in a statement as hundreds of supporters gathered to bury Ugaili.

"God is the greatest, America is the enemy of God," mourners chanted in Najaf after Friday prayers.

Ugaili was killed Thursday when a blast struck his car in the Habibiya district of eastern Baghdad. It was not clear who was behind the attack, which Sadr blamed on the United States. The cleric is opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq.

There have been several bomb blasts in Baghdad in recent weeks, and police said at least 12 people were killed and 22 wounded Friday when a car bomb exploded in the commercial district of Abu Dsheer in the south of the capital.

Ugaili's killing prompted condemnations from U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and military commander General Ray Odierno, who called his killing an "attack against Iraq's democratic institutions" and a "heinous crime."

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations' representative in Iraq, called the killing "an outrageous crime aimed at perpetuating instability in Iraq."

Gunmen clashed with U.S. and Iraqi forces overnight in Sadr City. The U.S. military said there had been one American casualty, but did not say if the soldier had been killed or wounded.

A lawmaker from the Sadrist bloc, which has 30 seats in the 275-seat parliament, said Ugaili's killing could be linked to upcoming provincial elections, due in January.

The polls are expected to see a struggle for power between rival Shi'ite factions in Iraq's oil-rich south.

"The killing could have two reasons. It could be an internal conflict in the Sadrist movement ... or a fight between Shi'ite powers for control of the streets before the polls," said a political science professor at Baghdad University, who declined to be named for security reasons.

Major-General Michael Oates, a U.S. commander in southern Iraq, said Thursday that U.S. forces feared a wave of assassinations before the polls.

Violence in Iraq has declined to four-year lows in recent months, but bombings and shootings take place daily, especially in Iraq's north.

SECURITY PACT