BAGHDAD, August 8, 2008 (AFP) - Radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army militia to lay down its arms if a security pact between Baghdad and Washington provides for a withdrawal from Iraq, his spokesman said Friday.

'We want to see whether the provisions of the agreement are serious. We will be satisfied if the agreement contains the withdrawal of US forces,' Salah al-Obeidi, chief spokesman for the Sadr movement, told AFP.

Baghdad and Washington are still in negotiations on an agreement that would govern US troops levels and allow them to operate after a UN mandate expires at the end of the year.