US forces agreed to a truce offered by Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Najaf on Thursday, suspending their attacks and allowing Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters to pull out of the city.
Ending a day of uncertainty following the cease-fire offer, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Iraq said the Americans would pull back to bases but continue patrols in the city until Iraqi police and other local forces could ensure security.
But US officials were resisting a condition from Sadr that an arrest warrant on a murder charge against him be suspended.
"We are cautiously optimistic. This is a good first step," coalition spokesman Dan Senor told a news conference.
"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 (coalition) offices and the governorate building and Iraqi police stations.
"Until that time coalition forces will suspend offensive operations but will continue to provide security by carrying out presence patrols. Throughout the process coalition forces will retain the inherent right to self-defence."
A deal with the radical young preacher could staunch a major source of trouble for US troops as Washington prepares to hand over to an Iraqi interim government on June 30. It remains to be seen if the truce marks the end of Sadr's ambitions or rather a bid to survive and keep his forces intact to influence the course of Iraqi politics after the occupation.
US commanders have rejected previous cease-fires and demand that he give himself up for arrest and disband his guerrillas.
ABANDONING POSITIONS
Hundreds of Mehdi Army fighters left frontline positions where they have suffered heavy losses in recent weeks under the guns of American tanks and aircraft. Many piled mortars and other heavy weapons into trucks while keeping their rifles.
Three Shia members of Iraq's Governing Council, including Ahmad Chalabi, held talks with aides to Sadr in an attempt to negotiate an end to fighting.
Chalabi, a former US favourite who has criticised the military offensive in Najaf, said he expected more negotiations with local commanders of the US 1st Armoured Division.
Sadr had agreed that fighters not normally resident in Najaf would return home and had demanded in return the suspension of the murder warrant against him. He said US troops should stay in bases, leaving security on the streets to Iraqi police.
Sadr said: "To end the tragic situation in Najaf and the violation...of the holy places, I announce my agreement to the following: an end to all armed demonstrations, the evacuation of government buildings...and the withdrawal of all Mehdi Army fighters. "Following the capture of one of Sadr's top lieutenants on Wednesday, Najaf had passed a first night for some time without major clashes between US troops and the guerrillas.
Riyad al-Noury, who is related to Sadr, is also wanted over the same murder, of a rival Shia cleric in Najaf a year ago.
BRITISH REINFORCE: Violence remains widespread in Iraq. The US military said on Thursday three Marines were killed in the west a day earlier.
Britain, the main US ally, said it will send 370 more troops, bringing its total to about 8,900 in southern Iraq.
Sadr's uprising against the occupation, launched in early April after US forces arrested another of his top aides and vowed to kill or capture the cleric himself, has divided opinion in Iraq's 60 percent majority Shia Muslim community.
Thousands of poorly trained and religiously inspired young men have flocked to Sadr's cause and hundreds have died for it.
But Shia elders have been incensed at the way they have used the sanctuary of Iraq's holiest shrines to mount attacks.
A gateway at the Imam Ali mosque was slightly damaged earlier this week, prompting new religious outrage.
An aide to Iraq's senior Shia cleric, Ali al-Sistani, said that the Najaf-based ayatollah had played the key role in arranging the truce offer after Sistani had warned US forces against what he feared was an imminent all-out assault.
Having swept much of Shia southern Iraq last month, when Sadr's fighters took over city centres, police stations and other key buildings, fighting has been confined in the past week mainly to the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala. Kerbala, 50 km (30 miles) from Najaf, has been relatively calm since Saturday.
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