In Iraq, Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has called off his two-month-old truce with the US-backed forces and called for a holy war against the US and other coalition troops. In a statement to followers Sadr said, “Fight the blasphemous, fight the Americans.” A spokesperson of Sadr told the Washington Post, “This is a revolution against the occupation force until we get independence and democracy.” Sadr’s call for an uprising marks the biggest challenge yet to the new unelected Iraqi government. The U.S. has responded by bombing portions of Sadr City in Baghad and the holy city of Najaf. Sadr’s forces have been fighting US and coalition troops in Najaf, Basra, Nasiriyah and Baghdad. Agence France Press reports at least 50 people have been killed and another 170 wounded in the fighting. Meanwhile Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has left the country to seek medical treatment in London.