BAGHDAD, June 11 (UPI) -- Rival Shiites clashed with stones and engaged in fist-fighting in the holy center of Najaf in central Iraq Friday preventing prayers at the city's shrine.
Witnesses said the clashes erupted when followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr attacked demonstrators belonging to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) who were calling for an end to violence and the pull out of Sadr's al-Mehdi army from Najaf.
The incident led to the cancellation of Friday prayers usually led by a member of SCIRI in the mosque of Najaf's holy mausoleum of Imam Ali.
SCIRI is led by Abdel Aziz al-Hakim who was opposed to the fighting that pitted al-Mehdi army and U.S. forces for the past weeks in Najaf and neighboring Karbala and Kufa.
