The top aide to Iraq's rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has announced that militiamen will hand over over medium and heavy weapons as part of a peace initiative in Baghdad's Sadr City and other areas.
In a live broadcast on Arab satellite television channel al-Arabiya, Ali Smeism said that in return the interim Iraqi government must make assurances that Sadr's followers are not "persecuted" and aides are freed from US detention.
He said it would focus on militia fighters in the Baghdad slum district of Sadr City, a focus of anti-American activity, and could be extended to other "areas of tension".
The proposed deal follows days of talks between representatives of the interim government, led by National Security Adviser Kassim Daoud, and Shi'ite tribal leaders and representatives of Sadr's movement, known as the Mehdi Army.
Earlier today, a senior cleric and aide to Sadr, Moayad al-Khazraji, was released from US detention at Abu Ghraib prison, a move seen as facilitating a possible deal.
As well as calling for the release of prisoners and for US forces to back off the militiamen, Sadr, via his aides, has also indicated he wants the government to pay reparations for damage done by US forces to Sadr City in recent bombing raids.
There was no immediate response from the Iraqi government or from the US military to Smeism's proposed deal.