(Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr suspended all armed actions by his Mehdi Army on Wednesday to restructure the militia after 52 people were killed in gun battles in the southern city of Kerbala.
Asked if the unexpected order meant no attacks on U.S. troops, one senior aide who declined to be identified said: "All kinds of armed actions are to be frozen, without exception."
Aides said the suspension order was designed to allow Sadr to weed out rogue elements from the militia.
The battles in Kerbala on Tuesday appeared to pit Iraq's two biggest Shi'ite groups against each other -- followers of Sadr and his Mehdi Army, and the rival Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), whose armed wing controls police in much of the south.