Rebel cleric offers partial disarmament
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.
The offer, made by al-Sadr spokesman Ali Smeisem on Al-Arabiya television, was aimed at striking a deal to end weeks of fighting between US troops and al-Sadr’s militia in his stronghold Sadr City, a teeming Shiite slum in Baghdad.
