BAGHDAD, Oct 7 (AFP) - Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr offered Thursday to surrender heavy and medium weapons in return for the release of prisoners and a role in Iraq's political process, a spokesman for Sadr said.
The US-backed Iraqi government welcomed the news, but did not say whether it would comply with the concessions.
"We are ready to lay down our heavy and medium-sized weapons in return for the release of all those imprisoned from our movement, a commitment that members of our movement will no longer be pursued and the restoration of basic services to areas like Sadr City," Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Darraji told AFP.
"This initiative is being presented only to the Iraqi government," rather than the US-led multinational forces with which Sadr's militia has been battling, he stressed.
For its part, the interim administration was upbeat over the development.
"The government welcomes the announcement by Sayyed Moqtada Sadr that his militia will disband, hand in their weapons, respect the authority and unity of the state, and abide by the rule of law," national security adviser Qasim Dawood said in a statement.
"The government therefore looks forward to this undertaking being respected and implemented," he said, reiterating a pledge to offer amnesty to anyone who did not commit crimes against the Iraqi people.
The Sadr spokesman said that Sadr's movement was willing to take part in nationwide elections provided they were "free of US influence and overseen by international monitors".
The government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has been trying to work out a deal that calls on fighters to lay down their weapons unconditionally in the Baghdad district of Sadr City and the return of full control of the area to Iraqi forces.
The deal, which is being mediated by local tribal leaders, also calls for the launch of reconstruction in the mostly Shiite district.
But the tough-talking Allawi insisted Wednesday that the government was responding to a call from Sadr City citizens to restore stability to the area and that there were "no negotiations or deal to be signed".
Sadr's partisans protest that the frequent US assaults and air strikes against its militia positions in Sadr City are an obstacle to ending the violence.