BAGHDAD (AFP)
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave Shiite militiamen a 72 hour deadline to lay down their weapons as they battled Iraqi and U.S. troops for a second day Wednesday in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra.
Hours later, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr advised Maliki to leave Basra and called for negotiations to resolve the crisis in the southern port city, a top aide of Sadr said.
"Sadr has asked Prime Minister Maliki to leave Basra and to send a parliamentary delegation to resolve the crisis in the city," the head of the Sadr movement's political bureau, Liwa Sumaysim, said.
Fighting broke out at dawn in strongholds of Sadr's Mahdi Army after raging through the previous day.
In Basra at least 40 people killed and 200 wounded. The death toll of 40 was not independently confirmed.
At least 20 people died in the clashes in the militia's Baghdad bastion of Sadr City, Iraqi security officials said.
"Those killed and wounded included men, women and children. The wounded have been admitted to five different hospitals in and around Sadr City," an official from the interior ministry said.
Sporadic clashes with Iraqi and U.S. troops continued in Sadr City during the day, witnesses said.
Residents of the sprawling impoverished neighborhood said those involved in the fighting were Mahdi Army members but the U.S. military said it was targeting "rogue terrorist and criminal elements".
The Iraqi prime minister, who is personally overseeing operations in Basra, gave the militia a 72-hour deadline to lay down its weapons in the city.
"We are not going to chase those who hand over their weapons within 72 hours," said Maliki, adding that the security forces were continuing with their operations and moving in to arrest specific people for whom they have warrants of arrest.
"If they do not surrender their arms, the law will follow its course," the Basra Operational Command quoted the premier as saying. |
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"A bitter turf war" for oil Clashes began in the southern oil hub on Tuesday after Baghdad ordered a crackdown on militia in the city.
Police said 218 militiamen had been detained since the launch of the security sweep, which has been codenamed Saulat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights).
Clashes also broke out for a second straight day Wednesday in the city of Kut, 175 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Baghdad, where Iraqi troops moved in numbers to areas controlled by the Madhi Army, an AFP correspondent said.
Police said a soldier and a woman were killed in Wednesday's clashes.
Residents said the streets of Basra were deserted on Wednesday even after a night-time curfew ended at 6 am (0300 GMT), and schools and most shops remained closed.
The city has become the theatre of a bitter turf war between the Mahdi Army and two rival Shiite factions -- the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party -- ahead of provincial elections in October.
The three factions are fighting to control the huge oil revenues generated by the city, seen as the economic nerve centre of the country.
Enraged by the crackdown on his fighters, Sadr threatened on Tuesday to launch nationwide protests and a civil revolt.
"We demand that religious and political leaders intervene to stop the attacks on poor people. We call on all Iraqis to launch protests across all the provinces," Sadr said in a statement.
"If the government does not respect these demands, the second step will be general civil disobedience in Baghdad and the Iraqi provinces."
Sadr's political bloc threatened to boycott parliament "until the government agrees to our demands," said Liqa al-Yassin, an MP from the 32-member bloc.
Tuesday's clashes in Basra left seven people dead and dozens more wounded.
The U.S. military said "terrorists" launched 12 mortar and rocket attacks from Sadr City on Tuesday, some of them hitting Baghdad's Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the U.S. embassy.
The attacks resulted in limited civilian injuries and minor damage to buildings and vehicles, it said.
More mortar rounds or rockets were fired at the Green Zone on Wednesday, wounding three Americans, said U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo.
Iraqi officials said a mortar round smashed into a residential building outside the heavily fortified complex killing one person and wounding four.
Five more people were killed by mortar fire elsewhere in Baghdad, security officials said.
The latest fighting has placed a serious question mark over a ceasefire declared by Sadr in August and renewed last month.
U.S. military Brigadier General Mike Milano blamed "rogue elements" of the Mahdi Army for the attacks in Sadr City, saying they were violating "Muqtada al-Sadr's ceasefire announcement." |
