Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled back from confrontation with the government on Friday, asking his followers to continue to observe a shaky ceasefire and not to battle government troops.
Sadr, whose call for calm was read out in a major mosque in Baghdad, said his recent threat of "open war" was directed only at U.S. forces, not the Iraqi government.
His comments could ease some of the tension that has been boiling in Iraq since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki cracked down on Sadr's Mehdi Army militia a month ago and threatened to ban his mass movement from provincial elections in October.
"You are the best who committed and were patient with the decision to cease fire, and were the most obedient to your leader. I wish you would continue your patience and your belief," said Sadr's statement, read by a cleric during Friday prayers in Sadr's eastern Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
"When we threatened 'open war' we meant a war against the occupier, not a war against our Iraqi brothers," it added.
In fresh violence in and around Sadr City, the U.S. military said it had killed 10 fighters in helicopter missile strikes and ground battles in eastern Baghdad overnight.
Sources at two hospitals in Baghdad's Sadr City slum said they had received the bodies of 11 people killed in air strikes, all men. Another 74 people, including 9 women and 12 children, were wounded, the hospital sources said.
Sadr first imposed a ceasefire on the Mehdi Army last August. It has been widely credited with helping cut violence in Iraq but seemed all but defunct at times over the past month.
Hundreds have died in Sadr City and other Shi'ite areas of Baghdad since Maliki, himself a Shi'ite, launched his crackdown.
