Strong explosions have been heard in Baghdad’s north-eastern Shiite district of Sadr City this morning following a US warplane blasted three people who were planting a roadside bomb, US officials and witnesses said.

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.