Calm in Baghdad's Sadr City, some violence elsewhere (1st Lead)

May 21, 2008, 11:05 GMT

Baghdad - Streets of Baghdad's Sadr City were calmer Wednesday, after two months of violent clashes between Iraqi forces and militants of the so-called Mahdi Army, while scattered violent incidents touched other parts of the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi troops were seen moving around the district, standing at separate checkpoints while US troops were patrolling streets for the first time since intense clashes broke out on March 25 between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army, loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al- Sadr.

Violence appears to have dampened, while Iraqi forces continued their efforts to mop up the Mahdi army members and to uncover their weapon caches in the volatile district.

Last week, the al-Sadr political bloc and the United Iraqi Alliance, the main power in the ruling coalition, signed a ceasefire deal to end the fighting between al Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and Iraqi forces in its east Baghdad's stronghold.

The anti-US Shiite cleric ordered his followers to abide by the truce and end fighting.

Mahdi al-Saady, a resident in the Shiite enclave, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that he hopes the presence of Iraqi forces in Sadr City would provide security instead of being a 'new cover for military and detention operations.'

'Violence and military operations have destroyed our streets and made us lose many of our friends and loved ones for no reason,' the 53-year-old Sadrist said.

He added: 'The situation in the district is really unpleasant. Garbage and sewage are spreading in the streets and schools are closed.'

Separately, a woman suicide bomber detonated her explosive belt in front of a headquarters of an Awakening Council (the US-backed anti- insurgency militia), killing two police officers and wounding another four, al-Iraqiya television reported.

The explosion occurred in the Ratab area of Anbar city, some 100 kilometres west of Baghdad.

Another three civilians were wounded when a bomb went off in Baghdad's Palestine street, witnesses told dpa. Nearby stores were also destroyed in the blast.

In other news, Kurdish security sources said four members of the Awakening Council were killed and another three wounded when militants opened fire on their checkpoint in the late hours of Tuesday.

The insurgents attacked the checkpoint in Jolaa district, north- eastern Baghdad.

Sources said a curfew was imposed in the area, as there were investigative reports about the presence of two female suicide bombers that are targeting Jolaa's police station.