Fighters loyal to the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have begun handing over their heavy weapons in the Sadr City area of Baghdad.
The militiamen are receiving cash payments in return for rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and other weapons as part of an agreement it is hoped will end violence in the district.
Also under the deal, prisoners are to be released and reconstruction money will be pumped in, while US forces have agreed to end their air and artillery strikes on the area.
However, so far only a handful of weapons have been handed in.
Car bomb targets US army convoy
Elsewhere, a car bomb struck a US army convoy in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today causing casualties, according to military and Iraqi officials.
A US military spokesman said there was a 'a complex attack' on a convoy in Mosul but declined to give further details about the bombing or casualties.
A pick-up truck sped up beside the US convoy and exploded in Mosul's southern Yarmouk district this morning.
Mosul, in the Sunni Muslim heartland, sees frequent attacks on US and Iraqi security forces, along with civilians and political officials thought to back efforts to forge a democratic Iraq.
