Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 17 January 2004 — The commander of US-led coalition forces urged Saddam Hussein’s loyalists yesterday to lay down arms and “embrace the future” in a sovereign Iraq, saying they will otherwise end up either dead or in custody.

The US military has reported considerable success in controlling the insurgency in central Iraq since Saddam’s capture Dec. 13.

“We will be relentless in the pursuit of these targets,” Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said at a news conference.

In Tokyo, an advance team of Japanese soldiers began their journey to Iraq yesterday after a ceremony marking the beginning of Japan’s biggest and most dangerous overseas military mission since World War II.

The violence in Iraq continued as a roadside bomb blew up yesterday in Baghdad, killing one boy and injuring three others. The explosion occurred after US soldiers approached a suspicious device to inspect it, but no American casualties were reported.

Two bombs found in the Defense Ministry were also being defused by US troops yesterday, Lt. Robert Cornetius said. Patients were evacuated from part of a hospital facing the ministry, said the hospital’s deputy manager, Imad Tareq.

The US-plan for transferring power to a sovereign Iraqi government through an appointed legislature was in trouble because of vehement opposition from Iraq’s foremost Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, and his followers.

An aide to Al-Sistani told Abu Dhabi television on Thursday that the cleric might issue a religious edict, or fatwa, declaring the US plan illegitimate if his demand for direct elections are ignored.

The power transfer plan calls for a provisional legislature to be selected by 18 regional caucuses. The legislature would then choose a new, sovereign administration to take office by July 1.

An associate of Al-Sistani’s, Ali Abdel Hakim Al-Safi, wrote a letter to President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, questioning the sincerity of the transfer of power.