BAGHDAD, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The political group of
Iraq's radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ended its boycott in the
parliament and government, Iraqi parliament speaker announced on Sunday.
"I can confirm that the Sadr's bloc has returned to
the parliament after our five-party committee studied their demands and decided
to recognize them," Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said in a news conference held
by Sadrists.
The announcement came amid the arrival of about
3,200additional American troops in Baghdad to help quell raging sectarian
violence on the ground.
The demands of Sadr's bloc concentrated on that the
government declare a timetable for training Iraqi forces and that the mandate
for occupation troops not be renewed without consulting the parliament,
Mashhadani told reporters.
Hassan Shnieshil, head of Sadr's bloc, also said at
the news conference, "We declare that we are rejoining the parliament and the
government, because we want to achieve full sovereignty and stability for our
country."
Meanwhile, another member of Sadr's bloc Bahaa
al-Araji said that "We declare that we will attend the parliament session today,
since there has been a response to our demands."
Two days ago, U.S. and Iraqi troops detained Sheikh
Abdul Hadial-Darraji, the media director of Sadr office in Baghdad, during a
raid on a Shiite mosque in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Baladiyat.
The group, a key ally of Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki which has 32 seats in the 275-member parliament, had suspended its
participation in the national assembly since Nov. 29 of 2006.
It announced the boycott to press their demand for a
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and to protest against a meeting between
Maliki and U.S. President George W. Bush in Amman, capital of Jordan on Nov. 30.
Currently, the current Iraqi government is too weak
to standalone without U.S. support. But in the meantime, the crucial votes
controlled by Sadr's bloc secured Maliki's post of prime minister. For both
reasons, either asking Americans to leave or cracking down on Sadr's militia are
difficult dilemma for the beleaguered Maliki.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said on Sunday that
about 3,200new American troops arrived in Baghdad to support the upcoming
security plan to curb violence in the Iraqi capital.
"The 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division will be
deployed in and around the city of Baghdad," the military said in a statement.
The mission of the new U.S. troops will be to "assist
Iraqi Security Forces to clear, control and retain key areas of the capital city
in order to reduce violence and to set the conditions for a transition to full
Iraqi control of security in the city."
U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged to send
additional 21,500 soldiers to beef up security in Iraq, most of them to Baghdad,
an effort seen as his last bet to change the course in Iraq.
But Bush's new Iraq strategy has aroused wide-scale
skepticism both in America and Iraq, since the numerous security plans proposed
in the post-war period have all failed. Opponents of the plan in U.S. also argue
that more troops will result in a higher casualties.
So far, U.S. military death toll in Iraq has topped
3,051 since the war began in March 2003 as American forces on Saturday witnessed
the bloodiest day in two years, with at least 24servicemen being killed.
A U.S. Blackhawk helicopter went down northeast of
Baghdad at approximately 3:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Saturday, killing all 12
onboard.
Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three others
wounded late Saturday when militiamen attacked the liaison office of Iraqi and
Coalition troops in Karbala province south of Baghdad.
In the volatile al-Anbar province, four American
soldiers and one Marine were killed in separate incidents on Saturday.
Another two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate
attacks in the provinces of al-Anbar and Nineveh on Saturday.
