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Moqtada al-Sadr orders fighters off Iraqi streets

Iraqi radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters off the streets yesterday, in a move the government said would help end fierce clashes that have killed hundreds across the country.

"We want the Iraqi people to stop this bloodshed and maintain Iraq's independence and stability," Sadr said in a statement with his seal released by his headquarters in the holy city of Najaf. "For that we have decided to withdraw from the streets of Basra and all other provinces."

Sadr's latest call came after six days of fighting between Shiite fighters and Iraqi forces in Basra, Baghdad and other Shiite regions.

He said he made the decision because it was his "legitimate responsibility to stop the bleeding of Iraqis, to maintain the reputation of Iraqi people, the unity of land and people, to prepare for its independence and liberation from the dark forces and to quell the fire of division by the occupier and its followers."

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh welcomed al-Sadr's order.

"A large number of people will listen to this Moqtada al-Sadr's call. Life will return to all of Iraq as before," Dabbagh said on state television al-Iraqiya.

"The government will be forced to implement the law against those who do not obey the instructions of the government and of Sadr," he said.

Clashes erupted on Tuesday when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an assault on Shiite militiamen in neighborhoods of Basra controlled by Sadr's Mehdi Army, the most powerful Shiite militia in the country.

Sadr's call came after negotiations in Najaf that began on Saturday between representatives of his movement and the Iraqi authorities.

Maliki had given a 72-hour deadline to Shiite fighters in Basra to disarm after launching an offensive against them on Tuesday, but the call was ignored.

"Sadr has told us not to surrender our arms except to a state that can throw out the [US] occupation," Haider al-Jabari of the Sadr movement's political bureau said on Saturday.
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