Iraqi Shiite cleric urges militias to disarm after ISIS defeat
BAGHDAD - An influential Iraqi Shiite cleric on Monday urged his fighters to hand state-issued weapons back to the government, following Iraq's declaration of victory against the Islamic State group.
In a speech broadcast on Iraqi television, Muqtada al-Sadr also called on his forces to hand over some territory to other branches of Iraq's security forces, but said his men would continue to guard a holy Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Al-Sadr commands one of several mostly Shiite militias that mobilized after ISIS militants swept across northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014. The paramilitaries are state-sanctioned and officially under the command of the prime minister, but have their own chains of command.
