BAGHDAD, Iraq — A Sunni Arab politician denounced a suicide bomb attack on a Shiite mosque that killed at least 60 people but blamed the violence in Iraq on the country's occupation by U.S. troops.

Harith al-Ubaidi of the Iraqi Accordance Front said Sunnis were "hand in hand" with Shiites against last week's attack in Karbala, south of Baghdad. His remarks were significant because the Iraqi Accordance Front is the main Sunni coalition that is negotiating with Shiites and Kurds over a coalition government.

"We also demand that the occupier get out, because he is the reason behind every crime," al-Ubaidi said. "If the occupier would leave, Iraqis would live as brothers."

He spoke at the Umm al-Qura mosque, Baghdad headquarters of the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group that is believed to have ties to some insurgent groups.

The sermon was followed by a demonstration against a U.S. raid on the mosque over the weekend. Hundreds of worshippers took part in the protest.

The mosque is in the al-Adel neighborhood, one of Baghdad's roughest and the same area where American journalist Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped on Saturday.

JERUSALEM — Ariel Sharon took a small step toward recovery from a stroke, slightly moving an arm and leg in response to pain stimulation, but doctors said it would be days before they could assess damage to his brain, critical to determining the country's political future.Doctors at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital said Sharon's condition did not change overnight, and he remained in critical but stable condition this morning. He was still unconscious, and doctors planned to continue reducing his level of sedation.