Sadr's minister Saleh Mohammed al-Iraqi, believed to be Muqtada Al-Sadr’s spokesperson said that "several missiles fired in the past at Erbil and Anbar were fired by the armed groups backed by the parties of the Coordination Framework."
"They then resorted to burning hospitals, power plants and blowing up towers, just to impose themselves and prevent the formation of a national majority government," al-Iraqi added.
The Fatah coalition, a key party within the Coordination Framework said that "delaying negotiations will lead to chaos in the streets and Iraq’s complete demolition."
"The Sadr movement has now chosen this path [no talks] and no longer believes in dialogue, and is only working to expand the crisis and complicate the situation to impose will, and take over Iraq," the coalition said.
Erbil is a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) strong hold, and has been hit by rockets several times since the last two years. Most of the attacks were carried out using Katyusha rockets that usually targeted American bases in Erbil. Although, on March 13, multiple ballistic missiles were fired from Iran and shook Erbil. The attack was condemned by the US, and other regional and European powers.
The Sadr movement and the KDP have come closer since the beginning of the talks to for the next Iraqi government.
Talks between the Iraqi political parties came to a halt when the supporters of the Sadrist movement stormed the Iraqi parliament when the assembly was about to meet to vote on the candidate for the prime minister and the president.
The parliament has been occupied ever since and al-Sadr has called for fresh elections, a call largely rejected by Coordination Framework parties.