Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News

BAGHDAD, 28 May 2004 — US forces yesterday suspended its operation in Najaf against the Mehdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr. The US forces will gradually hand over responsibility for security to Iraqi police in the city, said Dan Senor, spokesman for the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

“As soon as the Iraqi security forces have assumed responsibility for public security and re-established law and order, coalition forces will reposition to their bases outside Najaf, while maintaining protective units at the CPA offices and the governorate building and Iraqi police stations,” Senor told a news conference here.

“Until that time coalition forces will suspend offensive operations but will continue to provide security by carrying out patrols. Throughout the process coalition forces will retain the inherent right to self-defense,” he said.

Iraqi leaders had earlier struck a deal with Sadr to end a bloody standoff threatening some of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines. They had urged the Americans to accept the agreement, although it does not require Sadr to immediately disband his militia and surrender to authorities to face charges in the April 2003 assassination of a moderate cleric — key US demands to end the standoff. Instead, the future of the Mehdi Army and the status of the arrest warrant will be discussed during talks between the cleric and the Shiite religious and political leaders. That makes it unlikely that either step will be taken until sovereignty transfers from the coalition to a new Iraqi government at the end of next month.

Meanwhile, Britain announced yesterday that it will send some 370 extra troops to its zone of occupation in southern Iraq to shore up security after the June 30 restoration of Iraqi sovereignty. “I am announcing a net increase of around 370 troop numbers to bring the total of United Kingdom forces supporting operations in Iraq to 8,900,” Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told Parliament. The reinforcement was far smaller than the 3,000 troops referred to in press reports in recent weeks, but nevertheless signaled British concerns about security once the interim Iraqi government takes over in Baghdad.