Coalition troops, Sadr militias quit Karbala

Ali al-Kazali, a high-ranking member of Sadr's Mehdi Army confirmed that fighters had laid down their arms, following weeks of efforts by Iraqi tribal and religious leaders to negotiate a truce with the militia.

"We have decided to remove all the (Mehdi) army presence from the centre of the city as we are waiting for the agreement with the other side to be finalised this afternoon," Kazali told AFP.

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No military presence, either armed militiamen, or coalition troops could be seen in the centre of the city, 110km south of Baghdad.

All that was left was a scene of utter devastation where the heaviest fighting had taken place.

The area around the Mokhayam mosque, next to the shrine of Imam Hussein, one of the world's holiest spots for Shia Muslims, was a skeleton of its past.

Buildings were gutted, walls blown off and businesses reduced to towering piles of rubble, as twisted wires spewed out of the wreckage.

Hotel owners and businessmen whose livelihoods had been wrecked in intense, almost nightly bombardments, ventured out to sift through the rubble, vainly trying to salvage valuables in the war-zone chaos.

One man, whose hotel was completely destroyed, could barely contain his rage. It was his misfortune that his business backed onto a Mehdi Army bastion.

"I blame both sides. I blame the savage of the Americans and the irresponsibility of the militiamen," Nazem Hamid told AFP.

Amid the debris, he tried to tug mattresses, odd bits of furniture, pots and pans from the wreckage and turf them into a waiting pick-up truck.

Nowhere could any military presence be seen.

Sadr's militiamen, who had brandished their weapons only days before, now walked obliquely through the streets, trying to blend in with civilians.

The southern gates to the Imam Hussein shrine, linking it to the Mokhayam area, had also been reopened.

Hopes that a deal would be shored up later Saturday follow weeks of efforts by Iraqi tribal and religious leaders to persuade Sadr's private army to lay down their arms.

The US-led coalition has repeatedly refused to negotiate directly with Sadr, who is wanted in connection with the rival murder of a cleric last year, demanding instead that he face justice and disband his militia.

The retreat comes just one day after nine Iraqis were killed and 10 others wounded in overnight clashes in Karbala and the other main Shia holy city of Najaf, and more than 2,000 people demonstrated here Friday against the militia.

They had left the Imam Hussein mausoleum, led by representatives of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top Shia cleric in Iraq, with banners saying "Karbala is a city of peace, leave your weapons."

The protestors chanted "no, no to bloodshed" and "yes, yes to the Hawza", the highest Shia religious authority in Iraq.