http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/NUE243530.htmKUFA, Iraq, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Iraqi police fired bullets in the air to prevent supporters of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr praying in the holy city of Kufa on Friday, witnesses said.
Policemen ringed the Suhaila mosque in Kufa, near the Shi'ite Muslim learning centre of Najaf, and stopped around 150 Sadr followers praying there, they said.
Sadr, a 32-year old cleric who has defied the Shi'ite religious establishment and revolted against the U.S-backed government, used to pray in Kufa along with his followers before U.S. forces drove them from the area in August.
Under an agreement with the government brokered by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential cleric, Sadr agreed to pull out his fighters from Najaf and Kufa. The agreement effectively ended a revolt he was leading.
more