Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

Residents gather near burnt cars after clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City May 10, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BAGHDAD, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The movement of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed with the Iraqi government to a ceasefire in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr City, a Sadr spokesman said on Saturday.

    "We have made an agreement between the Sadr movement and the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to cease fire," said Shiekh Salah al-Obiedi, spokesman of Sadr office in the holy city of Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad.

Residents inspect a destroyed vehicle that was hit by an air strike in Baghdad's Sadr City May 10, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The agreement would include a ceasefire by Sadr followers, ending of all arms appearances in public and opening all the blocked entrances of Sadr City neighborhoods, Obiedi said.

    The deal will be effective from Sunday, he said, adding that the agreement was reached after talks between Sadr bloc and a delegation representing the Shiite-dominated government.

    The Iraqi government has no immediate comment about the deal.

    Over 900 people were killed in Sadr City during more than month-long battles between Mahdi Army militia and U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces, when a U.S. and Iraqi military crackdown sparked an uprising by Sadr's Mahdi Army.

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that Sadr must disband his Mahdi Army militia or will be barred from taking part in the provincial elections slated for October.

    Many Sadrists view Maliki's crackdown as a means to eliminate his Shiite rivals and to facilitate the political benchmarks set by the U.S. administration before the provincial elections.