Iraq's Shiite militia warns country heading toward sectarian bloodshed like that in years past

A street vendor inspects his destroyed juice cart at the scene of a bomb attack at Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 28, 2013. A bomb left on a Baghdad minibus and a suicide truck bomb north of the Iraqi capital killed and wounded scores of people on Tuesday, officials said. The attacks followed a particularly bloody day that left more than 70 people dead. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim) (The Associated Press)

Iraqis inspect the scene of a bomb attack at Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 28, 2013. A bomb left on a Baghdad minibus and a suicide truck bomb north of the Iraqi capital killed and wounded dozens of people, on Tuesday, officials said. The attacks followed a particularly bloody day that left scores dead. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim) (The Associated Press)

A senior member of an Iraqi Shiite militia that once fought the U.S. military says Iraq is heading toward widespread sectarian bloodletting similar to the kind that once pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

Adnan Faihan of the political bureau of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group said Wednesday that the militia intends to prepare for such a development.

Faihan however denied that his group was behind recent attacks against Sunnis that are part of the spiral of violence gripping Iraq, the most sustained since the 2011 U.S. troop withdrawal.

Years ago, Asaib Ahl al-Haq — or the Band of the Righteous — broke away from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's political bloc and has been trying to morph into a legitimate political movement.