A deal to end fighting between militias and U.S.-backed security forces in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was largely holding on Sunday, despite some sporadic fighting.The U.S. military said it would scale back operations to see if gunmen obeyed the truce, but a spokesman said troops would target militants who tried to launch attacks from the Sadr City slum. U.S. troops killed one gunman on Sunday in a clash.
Residents in Sadr City said small clashes flared on Sunday, a day after Shi'ite political factions agreed to end weeks of fighting that killed hundreds of people.
The conflict between security forces and gunmen has trapped Sadr City's 2 million people in a war zone since late March, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias in Baghdad and the southern oil city of Basra.
Sadr City remained tense, with shops on the main streets closed, although some stores in side streets were reopening. U.S. military aircraft hovered overhead. "This agreement really doesn't change anything for us," said Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad. "If anyone's firing mortars, rockets or planting an I.E.D (improvised explosive device), we're going to kill him."
Deals to end battles between gunmen loyal to the anti-U.S. cleric and security forces have collapsed in the past. It is also unclear how much control Sadr has over many of the Mehdi Army militiamen who claim allegiance to him in Sadr City.
Some residents were sceptical the truce agreed by Sadr's parliamentary bloc and the ruling Shi'ite alliance would last.