BAGHDAD (IRNA) -- Jeddah-Based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has taken an initiative to bring together religious leaders of Iraq representing both Shia and Sunni communities to stop the sectarian violence which has reached alarming level in Iraq.

A prominent Iraqi Sunni cleric, Harith al-Dhari, who leads the influential Association of Muslim Scholars has expressed his readiness to meet with top Shia religious leaders as part of an initiative to stop bloodshed in the war-torn Islamic country.

The religious leaders are expected to issue an edict (Fatwa) in the context of holy "Mecca Covenant" prohibiting further bloodshed, the waves reprisal killings which cost 100 lives of Iraqi innocent people every day, IRNA reporter in Baghdad said.

Al-Dhari is currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia and representative of Iraqi prominent Shia leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani will join the meeting of reconciliation sponsored by OIC to be held in holy Mecca.

War crimes in Iraq has found alarming dimensions with casualties figures collected by British Johns Hopkins University from medical centers and humanitarian agencies estimated to exceed 650,000 since the beginning of Iraq war in 2003.

In Jeddah, a preparatory meeting was held by the 57 member nations of the OIC to formulate a document on reconciliation between Iraqi Shia and Sunnis.

The document is to be proclaimed at the next meeting of the OIC, in presence of Iraqi religious leaders on October 19-20.

The OIC, the world's largest Muslim political grouping, seeks "to stop the turmoil in Iraq out of consciousness of its responsibility before Allah, the Islamic nation and history," organization secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is also expected to join the meeting in Jeddah.