BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister, in a very public demonstration of his influence over the U.S. military, ordered the lifting on Tuesday of a week-old cordon around the Baghdad militia stronghold of one of his key Shi'ite allies.

U.S. troops, at first apparently taken by surprise by the command, abandoned roadblocks within hours around the sprawling Sadr City slum, meeting Nuri al-Maliki's early evening deadline.

He also ordered the clearing of other checkpoints that have snarled traffic around the capital for the past week as U.S. and Iraqi forces have hunted an American soldier of Iraqi origin who was kidnapped, possibly by Shi'ite militiamen.

Reporters saw U.S. troops leave positions around Sadr City, the sprawling slum controlled by the Mehdi Army militia of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and Iraqi forces manning others open them up to let all traffic flow freely.

A crowd gathered outside the local headquarters of Sadr's organization, some firing in the air in celebration at the end of what a senior follower called a "barbaric and savage siege" that marred last week's Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.

[Maliki says he has not much concerned with US timetable.] Mr. Maliki said Wednesday no deadlines had been put to his government, dismissing the U.S. talk of timelines as driven by the upcoming U.S. election. "We are not much concerned with it," the Iraqi leader said. "I want to stress that this is a government of the people’s will, and no one has the right to set a timetable for it."

[Maliki say US backed raids on Sadr's forces "will not be repeated.] The U.S. military said Iraqi army special forces, backed up by U.S. advisers, carried out a raid to capture a "top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad." But Maliki said: "We will ask for clarification about what has happened in Sadr City. We will review this issue with the multinational forces so that it will not be repeated,"

[Maliki blames Sunnis, not Shi'ites, for being the "root of the bloody cycle.] He blamed foreign fighters in groups such as al Qaeda in Iraq [Sunni] and loyalists of former dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party regime [Sunni] for driving the current violence. "I would like to state here that the root of the battle we are fighting in Iraq and the root of the bloody cycle that we are undergoing is the presence of terror organizations that have arrived in the country." Mr. Maliki said. Maliki says: “Saddamists and terrorist groups are responsible for what is going on this country and the reactions,”

Sheikh Mazin al-Saedi, an aide to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, had been detained by U.S. military forces during a raid on his Baghdad house on Tuesday along with four men. "He has been released at the request of the government of Iraq [Malikik]," Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military, told Reuters.

[Before his release, several hundred Sadr supporters gathered to protest Saedi’s detention and demand both his release and ”the end of the occupation”. Activists chanted: “No, no to America! No, no to Israel!” (From AFP)]

U.S. commanders and government officials have expressed growing frustration at Maliki's inaction against militias. Sadr, who heads the Mehdi Army militia that has launched two uprisings against U.S. forces, controls a large bloc of seats in parliament.

Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at his American allies for raiding the stronghold of a powerful Shia militia. The Iraqi leader said that yesterday's raid on Sadr City, stronghold of the Mahdi Army, which is accused of running death squads, had damaged his efforts to convince political parties to stand down their militias.

American officials have said that the attack, targeted a specific cell responsible for murdering Sunnis. When the troops went in, however, they triggered a two-hour battle with Mahdi Army fighters, who run the Shia fiefdom of the hardline cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Mr al-Maliki, a Shia, said: “I am very sorry for what happened. Such aircraft attacks are unjustifiable on a vulnerable residential area like Sadr City under the pretext of arresting one person.” He promised to pay damages to those wounded in the attack.

Mr al-Maliki, who has championed a reconciliation process that he describes as Iraq’s last chance to avoid total collapse, is walking a tightrope between alienating politicians loyal to Mr al-Sadr and allowing militias to terrorise Baghdad.

The cleric’s bloc has 30 seats in parliament, making it one of the most powerful in the Government.

“Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way,” Mr Al-Maliki, who insisted he had not been consulted on the raids, said. “This operation used weapons that are unreasonable to detain someone — like using planes.”