NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr sent his fighters home on Wednesday in what may mark the end of a 10-week revolt against U.S.-led forces that once engulfed southern Iraq and Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines.

With the formal end of U.S.-led occupation just two weeks away, Sadr issued a statement from his base in Najaf calling on his Mehdi Army militiamen to go home.

``Each of the individuals of the Mehdi Army, the loyalists who made sacrifices...should return to their governorates to do their duty,'' the statement said.

That call came a day after President Bush said the United States would not oppose a political role for Sadr -- only weeks after branding him an anti-democratic thug.

Dan Senor, spokesman for the U.S.-led administration in Iraq, suggested Sadr caved in to U.S. military pressure and moderate Shi'ite clerics who brokered a truce between his militia and American forces.

``He is seeking to save face. Iraqi political leaders are working out agreements with him. He has expressed his support for the interim government, which was unheard of many weeks ago,'' he told CNN.

Sadr's ragtag fighters, mostly from the slums of Baghdad and impoverished southern villages, had launched an uprising on April 4, overrunning police stations and public buildings in several towns in a bold challenge to U.S.-led forces.

This month the unpredictable young cleric agreed a truce with the U.S. military and Iraqi authorities after weeks of fighting in the Shi'ite shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala.

Sadr's office sent a letter to the Shi'ite religious establishment on Wednesday, saying Iraqi police would be welcome back in his stronghold of Kufa, near Najaf, where he has frequently delivered fiery anti-American sermons..