BAGHDAD, Aug 29 (AFP) - The Iraqi government and the office of Shiite Muslim radical leader Moqtada Sadr held talks Sunday to try to end continued fighting in his militia's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City.
The talks, convened a day after at least six people were killed and 92 wounded in clashes with US troops, were due to continue on Monday, police and Sadr aides told AFP.
"We will reach a deal with the government tonight. There are some unsettled differences and we hope that tonight we will reach a deal," the head of the cleric's Sadr City office, Sheikh Yusif al-Nasir, told AFP.
Iraqi police, US officers and tribal leaders began meeting at about 11:30 am (0730 GMT) in the sprawling Shiite neighbourhood.
"The aim of the meeting is to disband the Mehdi Army, for militants to lay down their weapons and stop fighting US troops in Sadr City," said police Lieutenant Mustafa Jassim.
Sadr evacuated his strongholds in the central shrine cities of Kufa and Najaf on Friday following an ultimatum from Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
But Sistani's five-point peace plan made no mention of disarming militia in Sadr City or of Shiite cities in the south where the Mehdi Army has also clashed with foreign troops and Iraqi security forces.