An aide to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today offered to hand over medium and heavy weapons and cooperate with Iraqi security forces in Baghdad if the government stops pursuing members of the Shiite militia and releases most of his followers held in jail.

Clashes between British forces and Shiite militia in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah left 14 people dead and 42 injured today, according to the Health Ministry.

Iraq authorities have forcibly removed members of a hardline Shiite militia from a building they were illegally occupying in Najaf, the US military said today.