Iraqi PM accuses Sunni clerics of fuelling tension

BAGHDAD, Jan 5 (Reuters) Iraq's prime minister Nuri-al-Maliki accused a leading Sunni Arab clerics' group today of fomenting sectarian tension by issuing a statement saying that militias were preparing attacks on Sunni Arab neighbourhoods in Baghdad.

The Muslim Clerics' Association, an umbrella group of religious leaders of Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, warned in a statement yesterday that militias linked to a political group were planning attacks on some Baghdad districts.

Washington has identified the Mehdi Army, a militia linked to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as the greatest threat to security in Iraq, and various other groups in government are linked to militias.

''The office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says the statement of the Muslim Clerics' Association is totally baseless and raises tension and we hold the Muslim Clerics responsible for any action that results from this,'' said a statement from the prime minister.

REUTERS AKJ VV1650