Sadrists: We are committed to truce in Baghdad but cautious

May 14, 2008, 9:15 GMT

Baghdad - The Shiite Sadr Bloc of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is committed to a ceasefire deal with the Iraqi government but is watching developments on the ground carefully, Fatah al- Sheikh, a senior member from the bloc, said Wednesday.

Al-Sheikh told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the al-Sadr Bloc hoped the authorities would honour their obligations and avoid a repeat of what their actions in Basra where, he said, human rights abuses were committed and random raids carried out.

The al-Sadr Bloc and the United Iraqi Alliance, the main power in the ruling coalition, signed a ceasefire deal Saturday to end the fighting between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and Iraqi and US troops in its east Baghdad's stronghold.

'Mahdi Army will continue to exist as disbanding it is not explicitly stated in the agreement between the United Iraqi Alliance and al-Sadr Bloc,' al-Sheikh said.

On Tuesday, al-Sadr ordered his followers to abide by the truce if the government honoured its obligations.

But the truce has been breached since it was sealed with sporadic bouts of fighting and US shelling of positions of militiamen in Sadr City and other Shiite-dominated areas.

On Tuesday, a blaze broke out following heavy clashes between militiamen and Iraqi government troops in Jamila, an industrial area in Sadr City, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

Elsewhere, Iraq's air force is taking part for the first time in a military operation, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told VOI.

The air force has managed in the past 24 hours to provide air surveillance of areas in Nineveh province, where a large-scale offensive is being launched against militants of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, Muhammad al-Askari said.

'The reconnaissance mission is the first of its kind for the Iraqi air force,' al-Askari said.