Iraq's interim government has said Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr is facing his final hours before a military strike unless he meets demands that include renouncing violence and handing in weapons. Aljazeera's correspondent reports that Iraqi Minister of State Kasim Daud, speaking in Najaf on Thursday, issued an ultimatum to al-Sadr - spelling out several conditions that he said the Shia leader must meet and warning that "military action is imminent". In Daud's words, the Shia leader must announce in person at a press conference that he would dismantle the al-Mahdi Army; and he must disarm and hand over all light and heavy weapons belonging to al-Mahdi Army in different Iraqi governorates to the Iraqi police and National Guard at special centres for receiving these weapons. Additionally, the Shia leader must submit names of all people tried by his religious courts and release all detainees, including Iraqi police, soldiers and national guardsmen, "otherwise the coming hours will be decisive". "We have been preparing for a military offensive for five days to put an end to this crisis," Daud said. Responding to the ultimatum, an al-Sadr spokesman said the Shia leader wants to negotiate arrangements to implement government demands to end his uprising. "Sayyed Muqtada requests a negotiator to agree on arrangements to implement the demands," Shaikh Ahmad al-Shaibani said. But in his address, Minister of State Daud said the government had exhausted all peaceful means to persuade al-Sadr. He pledged the shrine would be liberated but declined to say whether the goverment would storm it. **More fighting*** Also on Thursday, the Iraqi Government charged al-Sadr with trickery and failing to act on a promise to disarm and abandon the shrine. "Really actions speak louder than words. We've made our position very clear that he must leave the shrine and dissolve his army, but still the situation is unchanged," said Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim. "We've had these kind of tricks before and the Iraqi people will not be deceived," Kadhim said in Baghdad. "He has not done what he said he would do." Earlier at least five loud explosions rocked Najaf's Old City area where al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army fighters have dug themselves in. Witnesses said intermittent sniper fire could also he heard coming from the area on Thursday. Mortar blasts boomed across the strife-torn city and sporadic gunfire was exchanged between the fighters and US occupation troops, medics said. On Wednesday, al-Sadr said his fighters would disarm and leave the Imam Ali shrine, but only after a truce was agreed with US marines encircling the city. Meanwhile, one US marine was killed in Najaf on Wednesday while conducting security and stability operations, a US military statement said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gestures during a news conference in Najaf, southern Iraq in this Aug. 9, 2004 file photo. (AP)