Amid reports of heavy fighting in a raid on a Sadrist official in the Kufa district, a member of the Iraqi Parliament has said that the Sadrist current foiled an attempt on Muqtada al-Sadr’s life, also in Kufa, and fingered US involvement in the plot.

Baha al-'Araji, a member of the Iraqi parliament with the Sadrist current told the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi that aides to Muqtada al-Sadr had discovered a plan to assassinate the cleric during Friday prayers in Kufa, the newspaper reports in Arabic.

The attack was foiled when al-Sadr failed to appear in Kufa on the specified Friday. The al-Quds al-Arabi account does not refer to the date of the alleged foiled attack.

The deputy suggested that “the occupation forces and Iraqi parties” were behind the attempt.

In the same report, al-'Araji also stated that the top two tiers of the Mahdi Army were present in Iraq, and had not fled to “neighboring countries,” as had been reported. 'Araji clearly referred to the reports that Mahdi Army leaders had traveled to Iran to wait out the security plan.

Also in the Kufa area, heavy fighting broke out in the town of Sahla as US forces raided the residence of a leader in the Sadrist organization, official, Muhammad al-Tabataba’i on Tuesday.

Two civilians and one guard were killed in the fighting, and three others wounded, Aswat al-Iraq reports in Arabic.

The US did not find al-Tabataba’i at the residence, but arrested his brother and another relative, according to Nahrain Net’s report in Arabic.

The US employed helicopters and airplanes in the raid, and fired air strikes which landed close to the residence, according to Aswat al-Iraq.

Civil officials in Najaf Province have denied any knowledge of the attack or coordination with US forces in the operations, Sot al-Iraq reports in Arabic.

Sahla is located in the Kufa district of Najaf Province, approximately 13 kilometers east of Najaf.