Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of the capital city Baghdad after Friday prayers to protest the United States occupation, while the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the major target in the US-led military operation, was reported to have appeared publicly before the regime's fall.
Demonstrators marching out of the Imam Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad demanded withdrawal of foreign troops.
In a sign of solidarity between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, the protesting Iraqis chanted slogans of "No Bush. No Saddam. Yes to Islam!"
Some held up banners bearing the word "Jihad" (holy war) to the occupation forces, reminiscent of scenes of Palestinian-Israeli confrontation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A popular Islamic cleric called for a joint council of Shiite and Sunni scholars to counter any puppet government imposed by the US-led crusaders.
"The coming administration must be run only by Iraqis," said Ahmed al-Kubaisy, head of the Iraqi society of Islamic scholars, in Friday prayers in Abu Hanifa Mosque, in Baghdad's al-Azamiya area.
"The occupation forces should leave Iraq soon before being humiliatingly ousted," Kunaisy told the massive attendance, adding that Iraqis should act in unison and reject the presence of occupation forces.
"There must be a national government in which people of various religions and ethnicities are represented," he said.
Meantime, Abu Dhabi television aired pictures Friday of what it said was Saddam in the streets of Baghdad, greeted by an enthusiastic crowd as he waved and was hoisted onto a car hood to greet throngs of fellow Iraqis.
Clad in black beret and olive military uniform, Saddam moved through the crowd while people voiced slogans supporting the leader.
Alongside him stood a man who resembled his younger son, Qusai. The film was shot on April 9, the day US forces moved into Baghdad, according to the report.
Observers said the footage, if authentic and if actually of Saddam, would mean that an American bombing of three houses on April 7 aimed at killing Saddam was unsuccessful.
On April 7, US forces bombed the upscale al-Mansour neighborhood after being tipped off that Saddam had entered a building there.
Two days later, a crowd of Iraqis, with the help of US Marines, toppled a 40-foot (12-meter) statue of Saddam in a main square of the capital, which was considered the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
As chaos and looting in major Iraqi cities continued despite efforts to restore order and security, in Riyadh the foreign ministers of countries neighboring Iraq plus Egypt and Bahrain, the latter the current Arab League chairman, discussed in an emergency conference the latest situation in Iraq and war repercussions on the region.
The ministerial meeting was called by Saudi Arabia after the kingdom's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal made a surprise visit to Damascus on Monday for talks with Syrian President Basharal-Assad on Iraq's security and sovereignty.
In his opening address, Prince Saud al-Faisal said the foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Iraq were meeting here to discuss the situation of Iraq and serious war consequences to the region.
He stressed the importance of safeguarding the sovereignty, integrity and independence of Iraqi people, and urged the foreign forces to leave Iraq as soon as possible.
"Our region suffered war and conflict over the past decade and we should work hard to make the war in Iraq become the last one," he added.
The minister noted the United Nations role in rebuilding Iraq and providing humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile in the West, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Friday that British troops still had a job to do in Iraq but would not remain there longer than necessary.
"It is necessary that we win the peace as well as the war," Hoon told British troops in a special address broadcast on the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
"We can't simply walk away from Iraq and say you're on your own now, get on with it," Hoon said.
British troops would be required to help restore water and electricity supplies, Hoon said, adding that because of Iraq's natural resources and educated population, the task could be completed perhaps sooner than in less developed countries.
However, British forces would not remain in the Gulf "a day longer than is absolutely necessary," he promised.
(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2003)
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