Representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr said on Friday that the radical Shia cleric would extend the six-month freeze on armed activity by his movement’s Mahdi Army militia that is credited with helping to reduce Iraq’s political violence.

”Activities of the Mahdi Army will be suspended ... for another six month period,” Mr Sadr’s aide Hazim al-Araji was quoted as saying during his sermon at the Kazimiyah mosque in Baghdad.