Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has called on his followers and security forces to stop the bloodshed a week after he warned of open war against the Iraqi government.
In a statement read at Friday prayers, he said his threat was aimed at US forces.
The call came as fierce clashes in Sadr City killed 11 people and injured 32 overnight.
A Sadr City medic said the dead included four elderly men, two women and a child. Women and children were also among the wounded.
The US military gave a different version of the clashes. It said its troops killed 10 'criminals' in northeast Baghdad where Sadr City is located. The impoverished district is home to some 2m people.
US and Iraqi forces have fought fierce street battles in Sadr City with militants, mostly from the Mahdi Army, since last month when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown in the southern city of Basra.
That operation triggered clashes in other Shia areas, especially in Sadr City.
