Bremer Won't Tolerate 'Outlaw' Iraqi Cleric

L. Paul Bremer Baghdad, 5 April 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iraq's top U.S. civilian administrator, L. Paul Bremer, today said radical Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was an outlaw threatening Iraq's security.
Bremer said he won't tolerate what he called al-Sadr's attempt "to establish his authority in the place of legitimate authority."

Bremer was speaking a day after running battles between al-Sadr's militia and U.S.-led forces in Baghdad and Al-Najaf killed nine foreign troops and at least 21 Iraqis.

The British Defense Ministry today said members of al-Sadr's militia "peacefully" took over a government building in the southern Iraqi city of Al-Basrah overnight.

AFP reported, however, that armed militants stormed the building and raised a green flag on the roof.

The U.S. military today said a U.S. soldier died in roadside bomb attack yesterday in the northern city of Mosul.