AFP - Local government officials warned Saddam Hussein loyalists on Monday to move out of the Shiite province of Najaf in central Iraq within 24 hours or face an "iron fist."

They demanded the exodus after a meeting to discuss security in the wake of a triple bomb attack last week in Najaf, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Baghdad.

"The Baath gang of Saddam has one day to leave the province or we will use an iron fist against those who have failed to distance themselves from the Baath and Al-Qaeda," the officials said in a statement.

The leader of the provincial council, which is headed by the party of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, blamed the bomb attack on Baathists, referring to Saddam's outlawed Sunni-dominated Baath party.

"The council's next measure will be to purge local government institutions of Baathists," said the statement.

The demand could further inflame Sunni-Shiite tensions after many Sunnis were among 500 candidates barred last week from the conflict-wracked country's March 7 general election, purportedly because of Baathist links.

Attacks in Najaf are rare but last Thursday's incident caused a large number of casualties, although accounts of the numbers varied.

An interior ministry official in the capital said 15 people were killed and 25 wounded, while a local official in Najaf said three people died but gave a much higher wounded toll of 80, including 15 in serious condition.