BAGHDAD, Aug 18 (AFP) - Shiite militia leader Moqtada Sadr has agreed to disarm and quit a holy shrine in Najaf as demanded by Iraq`s key national conference, one of the organisers of the meeting said Wednesday.
"We have just received a letter from Moqtada Sadr`s office in Baghdad that confirms `in the name of God` ... Moqtada Sadr`s acceptance to the conditions imposed by the conference," said Safia al-Suhair, who is also the wife of the human rights minister.
She then called on Jalil al-Shamari, a representative from Sadr`s office in the Iraqi capital, who said he was carrying "the acceptance letter from the Sadr momvement and from Sayyed (honorific) Moqtada Sadr on the three points put forward by the conference".
"Today, Moqtada Sadr accepted the three points to put an end to Iraqis` bloodletting and demonstrated his desire to take an active role in the new Iraq," she said.
The announcement followed an ultimatum from Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan that Sadr`s Mehdi Army surrender or be crushed in battle.
"The coming hours will be decisive and we will teach them a lesson they will never forget," Shaalan told reporters on a visit to Najaf. "In the coming hours they must surrender."
Late Tuesday, eight delegates from the national conference braved heavy fighting in Najaf to travel to the shrine of Imam Ali, Sadr`s militia headquarters, but the radical cleric refused to meet them for security reasons.