Iraqi Religious Leader Calls For Disarming Militias

Portrait of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (file photo) (epa)

April 27, 2006 - Iraq's top Shi'ite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, today called for militias to be disarmed.

Al-Sistani said only government forces should carry arms.

Al-Sistani was speaking after a meeting with the man designated to head the new government, Nuri Kamil al-Maliki. Al-Sistani urged Iraq's emerging government to make security its top priority.

(AFP, Reuters)