U.S. meets with al-Sadr aides British also hold talks with radical cleric's representatives

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. military officials and representatives ofrebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held talks Sunday aimed atreducing violence in the restive Baghdad slum of Sadr City, a dayafter clashes there killed 10 people, officials said.

British forces in the southern city of Basra, also the site ofrecent fighting, held similar talks with al-Sadr officials there.

Both areas had erupted in violence after U.S. forces and al-Sadr's militants began fighting in the holy city of Najaf three weeksago, and the talks Sunday appeared to be an effort by both sides toexpand on the peace deal that ended the Najaf crisis Friday.

An agreement, at least in Sadr City, …