Anti-US cleric offers help to Iraq government

Offer comes amid fears of sectarian violence

BAGHDAD - Anti-US Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr offered to help the Iraqi government maintain security after bomb attacks against Shiites killed 56 people in Baghdad on Friday in an apparent backlash by Sunni insurgents. More blasts on Saturday killed three and wounded 19.

Sadr's offer of the use of his paramilitary Mahdi Army on the weekend was made at a sensitive time for Iraq following a March election that produced no clear winner and left a power vacuum for insurgents to exploit.