Sunni party quits interim government

When the talks failed, the party saw no justification to remain a part of the interim government and subsequently quit.

The party's only member to hold a ministerial post abandoned the group, however, to keep his government position.

"The Islamic Party made the decision to withdraw from the government because of the military offensive in Falluja, but I don't share this opinion and decided to quit the party and remain in my post," said Minister of Industry Hashim Al-Hassani.

"To withdraw would not serve the interests of the Iraqi people."

US-led forces have moved deep into Falluja since launching a major assault to retake the city on Monday, as the US-backed government struggles to restore order ahead of national elections planned for January.

Calls for boycott

Earlier, the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) an influential Iraqi group, urged Iraqi security forces not to fight alongside US troops storming the besieged city of Falluja.

"We call on the Iraqi forces, the National Guard and others
who are mostly Muslims ... to beware of making the grave mistake of invading Iraqi cities under the banner of forces who respect no religion or human rights," the AMS said in a statement on Monday.

"Beware of being deceived that you are fighting terrorists from outside the country, because by God you are fighting the townspeople and targeting its men, women and children and
history will record every drop of blood you spill in oppressing the people of your nation," the AMS said.

The AMS has threatened to call for a boycott of the poll if assaults on cities in Iraq's Sunni heartland escalate.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AB208D9C-56DA-4F15-986F-AFB45F516C23.htm

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An influential group of Sunni Muslim clerics on Tuesday urged Iraqis to boycott the first democratic election in decades in protest at a U.S.-led offensive against the rebel-held city of Falluja.

The call by Iraq's Muslim Clerics' Association, which has helped negotiate cease-fires in Falluja in the past, could appeal to Sunnis at the forefront of a revolt against the U.S. presence in Iraq and undermine the credibility of the election due on Jan. 27.

"The clerics call on the honorable people of Iraq to boycott the coming election that they want to hold on the remains of the dead and the blood of the wounded from Iraqi cities like Falluja and others," said Harith al-Dhari, its top official.

"(The election) intends to achieve the aims of the occupying authority in Iraq and the authorities cooperating with them."

U.S. forces backed by Iraqi troops pushed into the heart of Falluja on Tuesday, taking a grip on Iraq's most rebellious city after a day of street-to-street combat with insurgents.

Iraq's government has vowed to retake all rebel-held areas ahead of the poll as relentless bombings and kidnappings raise fears Iraqis in Falluja and other parts of the central Sunni heartland would be unable to vote.

The election was not designed to express the people's will, but to serve the interests of the interim government and its U.S. allies, Dhari told a press conference.

"The interim government of (prime minister) Iyad Allawi bears full legal and historical responsibility for the war of annihilation Falluja is exposed to today at the hands of the occupation forces and militias of some parties in the interim government," he said.

Allawi has urged locals to hand over foreign Islamists and Saddam Hussein loyalists he says are entrenched in Falluja.

The call for a boycott of the election for a 275-seat parliament to draft a constitution is not limited to the Arab Sunni community, which makes up 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people.

But it would likely be welcomed among Sunnis who have felt increasingly marginalised since the ouster of fellow-Sunni Saddam Hussein, who favored them at the expense of the 60 percent of Iraqis who are Shi'ite.

Shi'ite clerics have called for broad participation in elections they hope will finally give them a proportionate say in the political future of their country.

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