Iraqi cleric urges fighters to disarm after Daesh defeat

BAGHDAD: An influential Iraqi cleric is urging his fighters to hand state-issued weapons back to the government following the declaration of victory against Daesh.

Muqtada Al-Sadr also called on his forces to hand some of the territory they control to other branches of Iraq’s security forces, but said his men would remain as protectors of a holy Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad. Iraqi powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr set conditions for his followers to hand over to the government the weapons they used to fight Islamic State.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over the militant group on Saturday and said “the state should have a monopoly on the use of arms”. In a televised speech, Sadr demanded that his fighters, drawn largely from among the urban poor of Baghdad and southern Iraqi cities, be given jobs or be incorporated into the official armed and security forces.