Followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled in to police stations in Baghdad's Sadr City district to hand in weapons Monday under a deal seen as a key step toward ending weeks of fighting with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the Shiite militant stronghold. Checkpoints lined the road to al-Nasr police station, and Iraqi National Guard members took up position on the surrounding rooftops. Police Maj. Kadhim Salman said fighters had turned in machine guns, TNT paste, land mines and other explosives. Fighters are supposed to be compensated for the weapons they turn in, but Salman said those responsible for the payments hadn't turned up yet. So, receipts were issued instead. Outside the Habibiya police station, a pickup truck offloaded some 20 grenade launchers and dozens of mortar rounds, Associate Press Television News footage showed. U.S. soldiers supervised the process from a distance. Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army agreed over the weekend to hand in its medium and heavy weapons at three police stations in Sadr City. The arms transfer is supposed to last five days, after which Iraqi police and National Guardsmen will assume security responsibility for the teeming Shiite slum, which is home to more than 2 million people. In return, the government has promised to start releasing detained al-Sadr followers, provided they did not commit crimes. It has also suspended raids in the northeastern Baghdad district. Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari welcomed the handover Monday as a "good and positive initiative," telling APTN that he hoped other insurgent enclaves would follow Sadr City's example. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's interim administration has committed more than US$500 million (¤406 million) to rebuilding Sadr City, scene of weeks of heavy fighting between U.S. troops and al-Sadr's militia.
