BAGHDAD, Iraq — Prime Minister Maliki said yesterday that the return of a Sunni political bloc that walked away from the government last year is imminent. The announcement followed a military campaign against Shiite militias that has buoyed Sunni politicians.

“The reconciliation has proved a success,” Mr. Maliki said in a statement. “The state’s weapons became the only weapon.”

The anticipated return of the main Sunni political bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front, is welcome news for Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which has faced repeated questions about its willingness to share power. The bloc has submitted names of potential cabinet ministers to the government for consideration.

The crackdown on militias, which started in the southern city of Basra last month, has led to fierce clashes between government forces and Shiite fighters in Basra and eastern Baghdad.

Clashes in eastern Baghdad continued overnight Wednesday and yesterday. American helicopters fired at least five missiles, killing at least six suspected militiamen, the military said. Also yesterday, in the Rashidiyah area north of Baghdad, American soldiers who came under small-arms fire killed four people the military described as Iranian-trained criminals.

Iraqi lawmakers, concerned about the fighting’s toll on residents of several eastern Baghdad neighborhoods agreed to form a committee to step up humanitarian aid.

“Innocent people are dying,” a Sunni Arab lawmaker who serves as parliament speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, said. “It’s a humanitarian issue, it is not a political issue. So let’s solve this matter now.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said this week that the fighting has hiked food prices and overwhelmed hospitals in Sadr City. Al-Jamila market, among the largest in Sadr City, was destroyed as a result of the fighting, the group said.

The organization said the clashes have complicated delivery of food and medical supplies for the vast slum’s three main hospitals. Sadr City is home to between 2 million and 3 million people.

Clashes in Sadr City that followed the start of the offensive in Basra left hundreds of people dead, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq and Iraqi lawmakers. During the 21 days after the clashes began, about 600 people were killed in Baghdad, about one-third of them in Sadr City, according to U.N. statistics. During the 21 days before the raids, 300 people were killed in the capital, the agency said.

A member of parliament who heads the political bloc loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Nasar al-Rubaie, said last night that 356 people have been killed in Sadr City, a stronghold of the cleric’s militia, since the clashes began. He said he was urging Mr. Maliki to ease the offensives in eastern Baghdad. The Sadrist bloc also pulled out of the government last year.