DOHA, Aug 25 (AFP) - Militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr have decided to suspend military operations in southern Iraq and other provinces where returning Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani will pass, a Sadr aide told Al-Jazeera TV Wednesday.
The Mehdi Army has "announced the suspension of all military operations taking place in southern Iraq to mark the arrival of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Basra," Sheikh Aws al-Khafagi, head of Sadr`s office in the southern city of Nasiriyah, told the Qatar-based news channel.
It also "announces the suspension of all military operations in the provinces where Ayatollah Sistani will pass," presumably on his way back to the holy city of Najaf, he said.
He did not explicitly say if the truce would cover Najaf itself.
Sistani, Iraq`s top Shiite Muslim cleric, arrived back in the country on Wednesday to deal with the Najaf crisis as fighting around its holiest shrine neared a climax, officials and sources close to the cleric said.
Sistani, 73, who underwent medical treatment in London, crossed into Iraq from Kuwait and was resting in a villa owned by his representative in the British-patrolled southern city of Basra.
One of his senior aides said from London that Sistani intended to "save the city" of Najaf, where Sadr`s militia has been pinned down by US and Iraqi government forces inside the sacred Imam Ali mausoleum.
A spokesman said the cleric would visit Najaf on Thursday, confirming that Sistani had called on his followers to march to the holy city.