Tensions Boil in Najaf After GI Kills Sadr Aide

'This escalation is meant to drag us into a confrontation'

Tensions were mounting in the Iraqi city of Najaf Wednesday after the death of a senior aide to Moqtada al-Sadr during a US-led raid on his home. Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadrist bloc in Parliament, accused "occupation forces" of storming the home of Saheb al-Amery at dawn and killing him in front of this family.

"We call on the government to launch an investigation," Rubaie told a news conference in Baghdad.

The US military said Iraqi Army troops with US advisers raided the home of Amery, who was accused of a role in a bomb attack on a police chief in October. A US statement said an American shot the man dead after seeing him point his rifle at an Iraqi soldier during the raid.

"The coalition soldier observed the man's hostile intent against the Iraqi soldier and shot the man, neutralizing the threat and resulting in his death," the US headquarters said in the statement.

Hundreds of mourners marched from Sadr's office in Najaf to the revered Imam Ali Shrine chanting anti-American slogans and denouncing Iraq's Premier Nuri al-Maliki as a traitor for working with US officials.

The Sadr bloc, which comprises 30 members of Parliament and six Cabinet ministers, has been boycotting the government after Maliki met with US President George W. Bush last month in Jordan. >>>cont

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