Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite leader, has threatened to declare "open war" if a security crackdown by Iraqi and US forces against his men is not called off. He said in a statement on Saturday that he was giving a final warning to the Iraqi government "to take the path of peace and stop violence against its own people".

"If it does not stop the militias that have infiltrated the government, then we will declare a war until liberation," he said in a statement cited by news agencies. 

Amid the showdown between the government and al-Sadr, a leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has declared that a one-month campaign will be launched, where the group will "offer the head of an American" as a gift to George Bush, the US president.  According to an audiotape made public on Saturday, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, said the campaign, to be called Attack of Righteousness, was reportedly announced in "celebration" of the 4,000 US troops who have died in Iraq.
  
The message came as nine university students and their driver were kidnapped on Sunday near Baquba, north of Baghdad, when armed men stopped their vehicle at a fake checkpoint, police said. The students were returning to Diyala university after a weekend break.