US approaches militia to help control Najaf

The US military in Iraq is aiming for a political outcome in its battle with the forces of rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as it seeks to win six weeks of calm before it hands over sovereignty on June 30, according to a US commander in Baghdad.

General Martin Dempsey, commanding general of the 1st armoured division, said on Tuesday that he had begun negotiations with “stakeholders” including members of Mr Sadr’s militia to form two battalions of 1,840 troops in Najaf, which he said Mr Sadr's “lieutenants” could help to recruit.

The offer resembles last week's deal in the Sunni town of Falluja, in which US troops lifted their three-week siege, withdrew to the town's periphery and handed security to a “Falluja brigade”, in part comprising insurgents.

The initiative comes after a month of heavy fighting around Najaf and Karbala and marks a significant reversal of the previous US declared objective “to kill or capture” Mr Sadr, who has been indicted for murder.

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