Sadr threatens to scrap ceasefire

Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday threatened to end a truce he imposed on his militia last year, raising the prospect of worsening violence just hours before top US officials testified on Iraq in Washington.

The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, told a Senate panel he was recommending a 45-day pause in troop cuts after July when an initial drawdown is completed. He said he would then decide over time when to recommend more reductions.

His comments suggest Washington will still have some 140,000 troops in Iraq in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, roughly the same number as before reinforcements were sent in early 2007 to halt Iraq's slide into civil war.

The Mehdi Army militia ceasefire had been credited with helping to sharply reduce violence across Iraq. Scrapping the truce could trigger widespread fighting with security forces and plunge Iraq back into a deadly spiral of sectarian violence.

Cleric Sadr's warning came a day after Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened to bar the cleric's movement from political life unless he disbanded the militia, which has fought fresh battles with Iraqi and US forces in the past two weeks.