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Baghdad: The Iraqi government has welcomed an order by Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr to pull his fighters off the streets.
Government spokesman Ali al Dabbagh told Iraqi state TV in an interview that the decision is "positive and responsive."
Sunday's offer was contained in a nine-point statement issued by his headquarters in Najaf.
Al Sadr also called on the government to stop what he calls haphazard raids and release security detainees who haven't been charged.
Sadr's Mehdi Army militia have complained that Iraqi and US forces have exploited a truce called by the cleric last August to make indiscriminate arrests. The US military says it only targets those who have disobeyed Al Sadr's ceasefire.
A government crackdown on Sadr's followers in the southern oil port of Basra has sparked an explosion of violence that risks undoing recent improvements in Iraq's fragile security and jeopardising US plans to withdraw troops.
"Because of the religious responsibility, and to stop Iraqi blood being shed ... we call for an end to armed appearances in Basra and all other provinces," Sadr said in a statement given to journalists by his aides in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.
"Anyone carrying a weapon and targeting government institutions will not be one of us," the statement said.
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