An Iraqi soldier watches as a protest march of supporters of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr passes by after the Friday prayers in Basra, Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday ordered a nationwide freeze on raids against suspected Shiite militants after the leader of the biggest militia complained that arrests of his followers were continuing despite his order to pull his fighters off the streets.

Baghdad ? In a dramatic reversal, Iraq’s prime minister ordered a nationwide freeze Friday on Iraqi raids against Shiite militants, bowing to demands by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr only one day after promising to expand the crackdown to Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued the order after al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia fought government troops last week in Basra and elsewhere, hinted at retaliation if Iraqi security forces continue to arrest his followers.

A statement by al-Maliki’s office, broadcast on government television, did not mention the Mahdi Army by name or give a timeframe for the freeze. It said the move was designed to give a “chance to those who repented and want to lay down their arms.”

But the statement was issued less than 24 hours after al-Maliki told reporters he intended to launch security operations against Mahdi Army strongholds in Baghdad, including Sadr City, home to some 2.5 million Shiites and the militia’s largest base.

“It is not possible to look for only a military solution. There must be a political solution and that’s why the prime minister issued today’s statement,” a top al-Maliki adviser, Sadiq al-Rikabi, told The Associated Press.

“We must have calm. Many politicians advised al-Maliki against confrontation, warning him that clashes benefited other parties,” al-Rikabi said without elaborating.

In his Friday statement, al-Maliki said that extremists “who lay down their arms and participated in the recent acts of violence” would not be prosecuted.

American military officials did not respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker had praised al-Maliki for his decision to strike at Shiite militias last week in Basra, even as he acknowledged that the operation ran into “a boatload of problems.”

The clashes quickly spread throughout the Shiite south and to Baghdad, where Shiite militiamen pounded the U.S.-controlled Green Zone with rockets and mortar fire, killing at least two Americans.

Major fighting eased Sunday after al-Sadr ordered his men off the street under a deal brokered in Iran – a move which appeared to undermine al-Maliki, who had taken personal command of the Basra operation.

In Amman, Jordan, David Shearer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said an estimated 700 people were killed and more than 1,500 were wounded in fighting that erupted after the Basra crackdown. He said the figures could rise “as facts and the numbers become more clear.”

U.S. and Iraqi authorities had insisted the Basra operation was not aimed at al-Sadr’s powerful political movement but instead at ridding the streets of criminals and gunmen who had effectively ruled the city since 2005.

But al-Sadr’s supporters believed the crackdown was aimed at weakening their movement before provincial elections this fall. Al-Sadr expects to score major electoral gains against Shiite parties that work with the Americans.

A member of al-Sadr’s 30-member bloc in parliament, Hassan al-Rubaie, told the AP that the decision to freeze arrests was made during talks Thursday between Sadrist representatives and al-Maliki aides.

Al-Rubaie said the freeze applied even in cases where an arrest warrant had been issued. He said negotiations were under way on other Sadrist demands, including the release of al-Sadr’s followers detained without charge, reinstating soldiers and police who deserted during last week’s fighting and the lifting of the siege of Sadr City and another Shiite neighborhood.