"BAGHDAD: Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Cabinet ministers to withdraw from the government to protest arrests of Mahdi Army leaders in the ongoing Baghdad security crackdown and the prime minister's failure to back calls for a timetable for U.S. troops to leave the country, two officials in the organization said Sunday.
"The six ministers will officially withdraw from the government Monday, said Saleh al-Aujaili and Hassan al-Rubaie, both members in al-Sadr's bloc in parliament. They said al-Sadr's 30 legislators will continue their participation in parliament as usual.
"The men said the order came in a statement from al-Sadr to his ministers asking them to "announce your withdrawal from the government." Al-Sadr's followers hold six positions in the 37-member Cabinet.
"Such a pullout by the very bloc that put Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in office could collapse his already perilously weak government. The threat comes two months into a U.S. effort to pacify Baghdad in order to give al-Maliki's government room to function.
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