Al-Sadr orders his men to cease fighting

The government said the curfew would end at 0600 local time (0300 GMT), but a vehicle ban would remain in three Shia areas of the capital.

Moqtada Sadr on Sunday told his Mehdi Army militias to stop fighting government troops.

The fighting has claimed more than 240 lives across the country since Tuesday.

A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, Ali al-Dabbagh, told Iraq television the statement was positive.

"As the government of Iraq we welcome this statement. We believe this will support the government of Iraq's efforts to impose security."

He also warned: "The government will be forced to implement the law against those who do not obey the instructions of the government and of Sadr."

In a possible turning point in the recent upsurge in violence, Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Shiite militiamen off the streets Sunday but called on the government to stop its raids against his followers,

The government welcomed the move, which followed intense negotiations by Shiite officials, including two lawmakers who reportedly traveled to Iran to ask religious authorities there to intervene.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose offensive that began Tuesday in the oil-rich southern city in Basra sparked the crisis, called al-Sadr's statement "a step in the right direction."

But fighting continued in the Basra area after the announcement. Seven people also were killed when a mortar struck a residential district in Baghdad's Karradah district, and witnesses reported clashes in the Shula area in a northern section of the capital.