MANAMA, 11 November 2004 — The US-led attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah has sharpened a sectarian divide in Bahrain with Shiite deputies clashing with Sunnis in a stormy session of parliament, newspapers said yesterday.

The row erupted after 24 Sunni Muslim MPs in the 40-seat chamber tried to pass a motion on Tuesday to condemn the attack as a “massacre” but the Shiites resisted the move, they said.

Shiite scholar Abdullah Al-A’ali angered hard-line Sunni deputies when he said the military operation in the Iraqi city was justified to get rid of “terrorists”.

“How can you say that? You are murderers. Is Fallujah any different from Najaf? You had no objections to statements on Najaf when it was under US attack,” MP Mohammad Khalid was quoted by the English-language Bahrain Tribune as saying.

He was referring to the Shiite holy city which was the scene of intense clashes between US forces and militiamen loyal to a rebel Shiite cleric earlier this year.

“We backed you on Najaf and now you call the people of Fallujah terrorists? No, sir, they are heroes,” Yousef Al-Harmi, another Sunni deputy was quoted as saying.

US forces, backed by Iraqi troops, launched an offensive on Monday on Fallujah to wrest control from insurgents, including Islamist militants and Saddam Husssein loyalists.

The Bahrain assembly finally issued a statement condemning the “horrible massacre” of civilians in Fallujah.