Moqtada Sadr tells army to stand down

BAGHDAD, July 11 (UPI) -- An anti-U.S. cleric has withdrawn a threat to reactivate his powerful personal army in Iraq but said he would oppose extended deployment of U.S. forces.

Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said he would not reactivate his Mahdi Army but that his "Promised Day Brigade" militia would lead opposition to U.S. forces remaining in Iraq beyond a scheduled pullout at the end of 2011, al-Arabiya reported Sunday.

In a statement on his Web site, Sadr said he was "freezing the activities of the Mahdi Army" even if the Americans stayed.

"Because of criminal acts that were committed -- or could be committed by people claiming to be members of the Mahdi Army, I decided to limit military action to the Promised Day Brigade," his statement said.

The 46,000 U.S. forces remaining in Iraq are set to return home at the end of 2011 but Washington has said it is negotiating with Baghdad about some forces remaining beyond that time if requested.

The Pentagon has said it considers the Mahdi Army, involved in repeated clashes with Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces from 2004 to 2007, as the main threat to stability in Iraq.