By Aseel Kami
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hasordered his Mehdi Army militia to maintain its six-monthceasefire, Sadr's spokesman said on Thursday, while hismilitiamen clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers.
Salah al-Ubaidi said the ceasefire, which expires laterthis month, should continue to be observed until militiamembers are told it is over or has been renewed.
Some members of Shi'ite cleric Sadr's bloc are pressuringhim not to extend August 29's freeze on the feared Mehdi Army'sactivities, which has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq.
Attacks across the country have fallen by 60 percent sinceJune 2007 and a return to hostilities could seriouslyjeopardise those security gains.
"Any member of the Mehdi Army who conducts violent actsduring the ceasefire, the Sadr office declares they will nolonger be part of the Mehdi Army," Sadr said in a statementread to Reuters by Ubaidi.
He said Sadr had issued the statement in response torumours that the ceasefire was about to come to an end.
Ubaidi, one of the cleric's most senior officials in thesouthern holy city of Najaf, declined to comment on whether theceasefire would be extended when its six-month term lapses.
Amid signs of growing restlessness, Iraqi police said MehdiArmy fighters had clashed with Iraqi and U.S. soldiers early onThursday in Sadr City, the sprawling Shi'ite slum in northeastBaghdad which is one of Sadr's power bases.
Police said three people, including a woman and a child,were hurt in the clashes and 16 detained.
A U.S. military spokesman said one person was killed andanother was injured when U.S. and Iraqi soldiers conductedraids "targeting criminal elements".
Sadr, who led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004,ordered the Mehdi Army to observe the ceasefire so he couldreorganise the splintered militia.
Mehdi Army fighters had often been involved in fierceclashes with U.S. troops or Sunni Arab groups, and the Pentagononce described it as the greatest single threat to peace inIraq -- a term now it now uses for Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
Sadr has been gauging the mood among senior figures aboutthe ceasefire, Ubaidi told Reuters earlier this week.
Recent statements from within Sadr's camp have indicatedgrowing unease about the truce, with members claiming they arebeing targeted by Iraqi security forces.
U.S. commanders have said they are confident Sadr, the sonof a revered Shi'ite cleric killed under Saddam Hussein, wouldextend the freeze, although U.S. and Iraqi forces continue totarget "rogue" Mehdi Army units.
(Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Catherine Evans)
