Thousands of people marched through Baghdad on Saturday to demand that the Iraqi parliament reject a pact that would allow US occupation forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011.
Iraq's radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army to stop operations Thursday. The militia is accused of killing thousands of Iraqi Sunnis, and was considered the greatest threat to the country's stability.
Throughout Iraq, thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr took to the streets to protest against a proposed government deal with Washington that could extend US troop presence in the country beyond 2008.
The Iraqi army moved deep inside the Baghdad Shia stronghold of Sadr City on Tuesday, where constant fighting between militiamen and US troops has left 1,000 dead over the past seven weeks. (Report: M. Ibrahim and L. Menget)
A deal aimed at putting an end to violence in Baghdad's Shia stronghold Sadr City went up in smoke on Tuesday when, only hours after the deal was signed, Shia gunmen opened fire on US troops.
The possibility of a truce between Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi government could spell relief for the two million Sadr City residents trapped in what has become a battle zone. The ongoing fighting claimed 13 lives on Saturday.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up north of Baghdad and killed over 30 people amid a crowd of people, an Iraqi army officer says. Meanwhile, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has refused to meet a delegation of Iraqi MPs for peace talks.
Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr has refused to hold talks with Iraqi MPs who had travelled to Iran to meet him. The delegation was hoping to meet the cleric to end bitter fighting between al Mahdi militants and troops.
Fighting intensified in the southern city of Basra on Saturday with Iraqi government troops taking control of a stronghold of militiamen loyal to radical Shia Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
