MUQTADA AL-SADR, the radical Shia cleric, yesterday called on his followers to stop battling Iraqi government forces after a week of fighting in southern Iraq and Baghdad threatened to spiral out of control.
A crackdown on Shia militants in Basra has provoked an explosion of violence that risked undoing the past year's improvements in Iraq's security.
"Because of the religious responsibility, and to stop Iraqi blood being shed ... we call for a
n end to armed appearances in Basra and all other provinces," Sadr said in a statement issued in the holy Shia city of Najaf. "Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us."
US forces have been drawn deeper into the fighting, which exposed a rift in Iraq's Shiite majority between parties in prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and Sadr's populist movement. British troops also became involved over the weekend, launching artillery shells at a mortar crew in the al-Khalaf area of northern Basra, which had fired on Iraqi troops.
The Iraqi government welcomed Sadr's statement but said it would press on with its offensive in Basra.
"The operation in Basra will not stop until it achieves its goals. It is not targeting the Sadrists but criminals," a spokesman said.
Scores of people have been killed in clashes in southern Iraq and in Shia neighbourhoods of the capital, where an indefinite curfew is now in place to contain further violence.
Sadr also called for an end to "random arrests" of his followers and for them to benefit from an amnesty law passed by parliament in February aimed at freeing thousands of prisoners from Iraqi jails.
Mr Maliki, in Basra to oversee the six-day operation, has ordered Shiite fighters there to lay down their arms and has extended a 72-hour deadline until 8 April for them to turn over heavy and medium weapons in return for cash.
Sadr aide Hazem al-Araji said Mahdi army fighters would not hand over guns: "The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government."
Araji also said there had been an agreement with the government to stop "random arrests", an underlying grievance of Sadr's followers that has fuelled this week's violence.
Sadr's followers have accused Mr Maliki and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, his most powerful Shiite ally in government, of trying to crush them ahead of elections due in October in which they are expected to make a strong showing.
Sadrists have complained that Iraqi and US forces have exploited a truce called by the cleric last August to make indiscriminate arrests. The US military says it only targets those who disobeyed Sadr's ceasefire order. A key test will be whether Sadr's unruly militia, which he has sought to reorganise in recent months to root out rogue elements, will obey his order to stand down.
Shortly after Sadr's statement, a salvo of rockets or mortars was fired at the Green Zone diplomatic and government compound in central Baghdad. The US military has blamed rogue Mahdi army militiamen for similar barrages in the past week.
This week's fighting has placed the United States in a dilemma. While it wants Iraqi forces to take the lead on security, the Basra operation endangered Sadr's truce, a key factor in the drop in violence in Iraq since last June.
The United States also risks being sucked into an intra-Shia conflict at a time when it plans to pull out some 20,000 troops and decide soon on future troop levels. Democrats seeking to succeed President George Bush want speedier withdrawals.
