Sadr issued a handwritten statement Monday a day after a surprise visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad, Iran's Press TV said.

"We call on the Iraqi government to prevent the entry of the terrorist occupiers on our land," the statement read.

Fawzi Tarzi with the Sadrist Movement, Sadr's political party, followed the statement noting the demands by the Iraqi government to disband Sadr's Mahdi Army "will mean the end of the Maliki government," al-Alam reported.

Tarzi called on the international media and aid agencies to visit Sadr City to see the "humanitarian tragedy" in the city following an outbreak of violence there.

He added that the Sadrist Movement called for three days of mourning to "put an end to such a massacre under government cover."