BAGHDAD - Fighters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have melted away from the streets of the Iraqi capital and Basra where they fought fierce battles with security forces, AFP reporters said today.
Yesterday, Sadr ordered his fighters to withdraw from the streets in a move signaling the end of clashes which erupted in the southern port city of Basra and quickly spread to Shiite areas across Iraq.
AFP correspondents in Baghdad and Basra said that militants were off the streets in the two key cities where they fought Iraqi security forces backed by US-led coalition air power.
The Sadr group in Baghdad confirmed that fighters from the cleric’s
feared ?? Mahdi Army militia were no longer deployed in the capital.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=737340
Highlighting / Question Marks are mine
TR, You may be right.
This may have been a “confidence building” exercise (on several levels)
SnT