Life appeared to be returning to normal in Basra and Baghdad today as a leading Shia cleric ordered his militia off the streets after five days of running battles with the Iraqi Army.

Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr called the unexpected ceasefire by his al-Mahdi Army last night, after an attempted Government crackdown on his followers in Basra led to Iraq’s worst fighting for months.

The unrest spread across the Shia south of Iraq, with some of the fiercest fighting in Sadr City, the huge Baghdad slum that is al-Mahdi Army's main stronghold.

“We want the Iraqi people to stop this bloodshed and maintain Iraq’s independence and stability,” Hojatoleslam al-Sadr said last night.

This morning his orders appeared to be holding. Times reporter James Hider said that Hojatoleslam al-Sadr’s masked militiamen were not to be seen on the streets of Sadr City where they had been firing mortars and exchanging gunfire with the army for most of the past week.

In Basra, Major-General Mohammed Jawan Huweidi, commander of the Iraqi Army’s 14th division, said that the retreat of the militiamen had left his soldiers in control.

“We have control of the towns around Basra and also inside the city. There are no clashes anywhere in Basra. Now we are dismantling roadside bombs from the streets,” he said.

Shops were beginning to reopen today, and schools were due to reopen tomorrow, the military operations room in Basra said.

In Baghdad, a three-day curfew was largely lifted, allowing cars and pedestrians back on the streets. A vehicle ban remained in force in Sadr City and two other Shia areas, Kadhimiyah and Shuala.

Haider al-Asadi, a fighter from al-Mahdi Army in Sadr City, said that all the militants were “now sitting in their homes".

“They are following Sadr’s orders,” said Asadi, 36. “But we are ready, should the Americans come inside our district, to fight. We have enough IEDs (improvised explosive devices) for them. If they come, we will defend ourselves."

US and Iraqi security forces continued to seal off Sadr City, posting snipers on the rooftops looking into the slum, according to militants.

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