BAGHDAD — Shiite groups brokered a reported cease-fire Saturday with militants fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad’s Sadr City.
Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, an aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the cease-fire will go into effect today. The cease-fire might not necessarily end the 7-week-old clashes in Sadr City, the stronghold of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, the commander of military operations in the northern city of Mosul, announced that operation Lion’s Roar against al-Qaeda in Iraq was underway.
“Operation Lion’s Roar is an Iraqi-led, -planned and -executed operation and is another example of the Iraqis’ growing confidence and ability to independently carry out complex combat, police and humanitarian operations,” said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in the north.
