Allawi claims peace deal reached with rebel cleric

Negotiators have hammered out the basis for an agreement to end fighting with followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today

US forces have been daily attacking the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City to knock out the cleric’s militia and pressure him to lay down his arms in favour of negotiations.