Baghdad - Relative calm was returning to Baghdad and Basra Monday after radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his fighters off the streets, heralding an end to six days of fighting with government troops. In Baghdad, Iraqi authorities lifted a three-day curfew from 0600 local time Monday but a ban on vehicles remains in Shiite-dominated districts of Sadr City, Shula and Kazimiyah.
Al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to stop fighting government forces and urged them to cooperate to stop "Iraqi bloodshed" and "achieve security."
The cleric, believed to be staying in Iran, called on the government to apply the general amnesty law, end random raids targeting his loyalists and release detainees.
The government welcomed the move but said the crackdown on "lawbreakers" would continue.
In Sadr City, a poor neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad, the local population is unhappy about the ban on vehicle despite the relative calm, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.
The district plunged into total darkness Sunday night.
US troops are still closing the area and preventing people from moving while setting up bases in some buildings, locals told VOI.
Local traders are unable to transport goods and food supplies because of the ban on vehicles, a local shop-owner said.
In Basra, Iraq's second largest city, an Iraqi army commander said the military presence was disappearing around the city.
"Security is returning to all areas in Basra. No security breaches have been recorded and military appearances are not seen on the streets," General Mohammed Jawad, the commander of the 14th division, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"Iraqi police and army are now removing landmines and explosives off the streets," the general said.
The Basra offensive is going ahead until all objectives are achieved, Jawad added.
Shops and markets were opening and vehicles could be seen amid a big troop deployment in the oil-rich city.
Estimates of the death toll since the outbreak of violence vary. As many as 250 people died and over 500 were injured in Basra, according to medical sources.
Iraqi police gave a death toll in Baghdad of 117 people.
Meanwhile the US military reported in Baghdad Monday that its troops killed more than 40 Iraqis in one day, including 25 "criminals" who attacked them.
On Sunday, the US Air Force killed 25 "criminals" that had previously attacked US soldiers, the military said.
Most of the deaths occurred during clashes between the Mahdi Army militia and combined US Army and Iraqi government troops.
The military also said that one US soldier was killed by an explosive on Sunday north of Bagdad and another soldier died from injuries he received Saturday from an explosive in Anbar province.
The army said that near Balad city on Sunday six policemen were killed by al-Qaeda terrorists who lured them into an ambush.
