Sadr vows to honour deal to end Baghdad bloodshed
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gave his personal backing on Monday to a deal between his militia and the Iraqi government to halt bloodshed in his Baghdad stronghold, even as sporadic fighting there claimed three lives.
Sadr's spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi quoted the firebrand clergyman as saying his Mahdi Army will honour the deal reached on Saturday to end weeks of deadly fighting in the impoverished Baghdad district of Sadr City.
"He welcomed the agreement," Obeidi said. "Sadr himself authorised the delegation to negotiate and to reach an agreement which stopped the flow of Iraqi blood."
"He considered the agreement official," Obeidi said, adding that the deal would still stand even if there were skirmishes.
Obeidi said Saturday's accord, aimed at ending seven weeks of fighting in the Baghdad slum district that has claimed hundreds of lives, was expected to be fully implemented by Wednesday.
The Sadr City fighting followed a government crackdown on Shiite militias in the southern port city and oil hub of Basra and was despite a previous ceasefire called by Sadr.
The US military maintained that it was not Sadr's men who were keeping up the fight but "criminals."
Since Sunday, American troops have fought sporadic battles with Shiite militia in Sadr City, killing three people, in a marked decline in the level of fighting, officials said on Monday.
US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover said troops came under attack in three incidents in the first 24 hours after the deal was agreed.
Obeidi said the deal was expected to be fully implemented by Wednesday.
"The agreement started yesterday (Sunday), but it needs four days for full implementation," Obeidi said at a press conference in Baghdad.
Government representative Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya said at the same press conference that the accord set out a road map to restore normality in Sadr City, a teeming area of about two million Iraqis.
Attiya said security forces could go into the area to clear mines and any "armed presence and help people come back to their homes, rebuild their lives."
Stover said two "criminals" were shot dead by US troops in two confrontations while the third was killed by a tank shell in overnight clashes in Sadr City.
Medical and police sources in Sadr City said two bodies had been brought to the main hospital together with 25 wounded people.
Stover said there were no rocket attacks from the area during the past 24 hours, but that seven mortar rounds had been fired in west Baghdad. There were no casualties in those attacks, he added.
One US soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in northwest Baghdad on Sunday night, but not in the Sadr City area, the military said in a separate statement.
It said its soldiers had killed at least 150 militiamen in the past two months as Sadr City has been rocked by gunfire, shelling and air strikes. The military has a permanent aerial reconnaissance unit in the area.
The military blames Shiite militiamen for killing or wounding 269 civilians.
Fighting erupted in Sadr City after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shiite fighters in Basra in late March.
One of the main issues fuelling the fighting in Sadr City has been the US military's construction of a huge barrier in the southern section of the district to control access.
Stover said construction would continue despite the deal, after the US military said on Sunday it was 80 percent complete.
Iraqi army spokesman Brigadier General Qasim Atta said security forces planned to build more such walls in the district.
"We will build walls in Sadr city for security reasons, and to stop the movement of armed men," he told AFP. "Similar walls built elsewhere have proved successful in achieving security."
The wall was to help reduce rocket and mortar fire against the Green Zone compound in central Baghdad where the Iraqi government and the US embassy are located.
