BAGHDAD -- Followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr say their political bloc will resume participation in the Iraqi parliament.
The bloc, which walked out of the Iraqi legislature June 13 to protest what it claimed was the government's failure to protect the Golden Mosque in Samarra, had combined with an unrelated Sunni protest in crippling the lawmaking body's ability to pass legislation demanded by the United States, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The group holds 30 of the parliament's 275 seats.
The Sadr bloc makes up one quarter of the seats held by the governing Shiite alliance of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki.
A spokesman for the Sadr bloc said the protest was a response to demands that parliament pressure the government to protect holy sites.
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