Rebel cleric's gunment surrender their weapons

Followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled in to police stations in a Baghdad slum district to hand in weapons today under a deal seen as a key step toward ending weeks of fighting with US and Iraqi forces in the Shiite militant stronghold.

Checkpoints lined the road to al-Nasr police station in Sadr City, and Iraqi National Guards took up positions on the surrounding rooftops.

Police Major Kadhim Salman said fighters had turned in machine guns, TNT paste, land mines and other explosives.

Fighters are supposed to be compensated for the weapons they turn in, but Salman said those responsible for the payments had not turned up yet. So, receipts were issued instead.

Malik Jomaa walked up to the station with a white bag containing two grenade launchers slung over his shoulder.

“God willing, there will be no more fighting and Sadr City will live in peace,” said the 20-year-old fighter in a track suit.

Outside the Habibiya police station, a pick-up truck offloaded some 20 grenade launchers and dozens of mortar rounds. US soldiers supervised the process from a distance.

Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army agreed over the weekend to hand in its medium and heavy weapons at three police stations in Sadr City.

The arms transfer is supposed to last five days, after which Iraqi police and National Guardsmen will assume security responsibility for the teeming Shiite slum, which is home to more than two million people.

In return, the government has promised to start releasing detained al-Sadr followers, provided they did not commit crimes. It has also suspended raids in the north-eastern Baghdad district.

Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari welcomed the handover as a “good and positive initiative”, saying he hoped other insurgent enclaves would follow Sadr City’s example.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s interim administration has committed more than €405.6m to rebuilding Sadr City, scene of weeks of heavy fighting between US troops and al-Sadr’s militia.