Najaf, June 27: The leader of a key Iraqi Shiite movement today said he opposed violence against the governing us-led coalition following a spate of attacks against US and British troops in largely Shiite areas, saying he preferred peaceful means to bring about an end to the occupation. "The use of violence is the last resort," Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, head of the supreme assembly for the Islamic revolution in Iraq, said during his sermon today in the holy city of Najaf.

"We must start by negotiations and peaceful demonstrations against the occupation."

Sairi is the main Shiite group to have opposed the Baathist regime and is part of a council of former opposition parties that has been in talks with the coalition about post-war Iraq's future administration.

Bureau Report