Iraqi Cleric Vows to End Attacks If U.S. Agrees to Withdrawal Date

BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 -- Anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will end all his movement's attacks on U.S. troops if the United States agrees to a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, his chief spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman, Salah al-Obaidi, said Sadr's paramilitary cells have already been ordered to stop fighting as U.S. and Iraqi officials negotiate an agreement over the presence of American forces in Iraq. He said the cells will be disbanded as soon as the United States agrees to a deadline for leaving the country.

"If there will be a serious decision to end the occupation of Iraq, those cells will vanish," Obaidi said. "There will be no reason to let those cells stay and work."

The pledge came as a car bomb in the northern city of Tall Afar killed at least 21 people and wounded 65 in one of the deadliest blasts in months. The explosion, which Iraqi officials blamed on the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a reminder of the damage the organization can still inflict even though it has been severely weakened over the past year.

At Friday prayers across the country, Sadr's aides announced new details of plans to transform his Mahdi Army militia into a religious and social organization, a step U.S. officials hope will tamp down violence in Iraq.

"We welcome this announcement that appears to be an effort to help the Iraqi people," Col. Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. military spokesman, wrote in an e-mail. He added: "The proof is always in the actions and not just the words."

Sadr's aides said that the movement's new religious program will be called al-Mumahidoon, meaning "those who pave the way." The name refers to the belief of Sadr's followers that they are preparing for the return to earth of Imam Mahdi, a 9th-century saint revered by Shiites.

The naming of the new movement follows Sadr's declaration in June that he would permanently disarm the Mahdi Army, once the most feared militia in the country, and restrict fighting to members of specialized paramilitary cells assigned to attack U.S. troops. His decision to order a cease-fire last year is widely considered to be one of the main reasons security has improved in Iraq.

Obaidi said the Mahdi Army will not be dissolved but will simply readjust its focus away from fighting. He said he could not comment on the specialized fighting cells.

It remains unclear whether all of Sadr's followers will abide by the permanent cease-fire, but his supporters are working widely to publicize the announcement. Across Baghdad, posters have appeared explaining the orders to disarm.

One poster about al-Mumahidoon reads: "It is a deliberative, cultural, religious, social army, devoted to ideological and scientific jihad and freeing brains and hearts and the human spirit from the Western secular hegemony."

The sign added: "And it strictly bans the use of weapons."

In Tall Afar, officials were coping late into the night with the casualties from the bombing, which they said took place at about 7 p.m. in a crowded vegetable market.

Khisro Goran, the deputy governor of Nineveh province, which includes Tall Afar, said the attack bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has been regrouping in northern Iraq, and particularly Mosul, since coming under increased pressure elsewhere in the country.

"All they want is destruction," he said, referring to al-Qaeda in Iraq. "They want to burn the fire of sectarianism."

Special correspondents Qais Mizher in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in Najaf and Dlovan Brwari in Kurdistan contributed to this report.