We should defend Iraq’s holy sites: Muqtada Sadr

Influential Iraqi cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, has called for the formation of a special force to defend religious sites in Iraq.

According to Press TV, Sadr, who once ran the powerful Mahdi Army, said in a statement on Wednesday that he was ready to help create “peace units to defend the holy sites of both Muslims and Christians in Iraq, in cooperation with the government.”
The development comes as the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have not yet been able to infiltrate into areas where the country’s holy sites are located.
However, they have already captured some chunks of land in Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces.
On Tuesday, militants of the al-Qaeda-linked ISIL also took six different areas of Kirkuk Province.