Sadr tells militia to maintain Iraq ceasefire

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his feared Mehdi Army on Thursday to maintain its six-month ceasefire as members of the militia clashed with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad.

Shi'ite Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Ubaidi said the ceasefire, which expires later this month and has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq, should continue to be observed until militia members are told it is over or has been renewed.

Some members of Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend the August 29 freeze on the Mehdi Army's activities.

"Any member of the Mehdi Army who conducts violent acts during the ceasefire, the Sadr office declares they will no longer be part of the Mehdi Army," Sadr said in a statement read to Reuters by Ubaidi.

He said Sadr had issued the statement in response to rumors the ceasefire was about to come to an end. He declined to say whether it would be extended when its term lapses.

Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since June 2007 after a series of security crackdowns. A return to hostilities could seriously jeopardize those gains.

A new report by the International Crisis Group think-tank said the respite offered by the ceasefire was "exceedingly frail" and that Sadrists -- many of whom complain they are targeted by security forces -- remain extremely powerful.

"Among Sadrist rank and file, impatience with the ceasefire is high and growing," the report said.

Police said Mehdi Army fighters had clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers early on Thursday in Sadr City, the sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeast Baghdad and one of Sadr's power bases.

They said three people, including a woman and a child, were hurt, and 16 detained. A U.S. military spokesman said one person was killed and another injured in the raids.

Sadr, who led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, ordered the Mehdi Army ceasefire so he could reorganize the splintered militia. Ubaidi has said Sadr is gauging the mood of senior figures before deciding whether to extend the truce.

DEADLOCKED

Washington has been urging Iraq to take advantage of improved security and move ahead with a series of laws aimed at reconciling majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs.

But several of those laws, including the 2008 budget and another that would release thousands of mainly Sunni Arabs from Iraqi jails, remained deadlocked.

"The delay in the budget is harming everyone," Iraq's Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi told a news conference.