BAGHDAD, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. military issued a statement Saturday saying the six-month suspension of Iraq's radical Mehdi Army militia is "encouraging."
The military said Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to suspend the militia will allow U.S. and Iraqi forces to "intensify their focus on al-Qaida in Iraq ... without distraction from (Mehdi Army) attacks," CNN reported Saturday.
"Muqtada al-Sadr's declaration holds the potential to reduce criminal activity and help reunite Iraqis separated by ethno-sectarian violence and fear," the statement said.
Sadr's order follows the deaths of nearly 60 people during recent battles between armed Shiite groups in Karbala and Baghdad. An aide to the Shiite cleric said Sadr suspended the militia with the intent to restructure its forces.
A permanent disbanding of the Mehdi Army "would also be an important step in helping Iraqi authorities focus greater attention on achieving the political and economic solutions necessary for progress and less on dealing with criminal activity, sectarian violence, kidnappings, assassinations, and attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces," the U.S. military said.
