"Arab or Muslim forces should be sent only if the occupation forces pull out and are replaced by forces authorised by the United Nations," said Kadhafi in comments published by the Jana official news agency.

"Otherwise the (Arab and Muslim) forces would also become occupation forces," he added.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday said he welcomed the Saudi proposal of dispatching Arab or Muslim troops to Iraq to serve either as part of the US-led multinational force or separately.

Iraqi radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and Sunni Muslim religious elders on Friday rejected the Saudi proposal.

"I advise all countries that want to help Iraq, not to send forces here," said Sadr in a sermon at Friday prayers in the main mosque in Kufa, south of Baghdad.

WAR.WIRE