Byrner
03-26-2008, 12:33 PM
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's prime minister Wednesday gave Shiite militants battling security forces in Basra a 72-hour deadline to surrender as the death toll from two days of fighting that threatens to undo efforts to stabilize Iraq neared 50.
Iraqi Mehdi Army fighters take position during clashes in the southern city of Bara.
1 of 3 Nuri al-Maliki gave the ultimatum a day after clashes erupted in the southern oil port city and Baghdad between Iraqi and U.S. security forces and fighters aligned with the Mehdi Army -- the militia of hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The fighting has killed 40 to 50 people in Basra, 18 others in Baghdad and left scores injured. Officials say the dead in Basra include Iraqi troops, police, civilians and militiamen.
Firefights broke out between "outlaws" and Iraqi security forces, according to an Interior Ministry official, who reported ongoing military operations in five neighborhoods.
Images froms the city show black-masked gunmen targeting their weapons from makeshift vantage points within the city.
In a further incident Wednesday, three U.S. government officials were seriously injured as militants targeted the International Zone in Baghdad, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.
The renewed violence in Basra and Baghdad threatens to unravel a seven-months-long suspension of Mehdi Army activities, a much-praised cease-fire called by al-Sadr that the U.S. military says has decreased violence across Iraq.
Growing tension between the Sadrist movement and Iraqi authorities has boiled over in recent weeks, with Sadrists saying they have been unfairly targeted and detained in U.S. and Iraqi raids.
The U.S. military says it has been targeting Shiite militants who have flouted the al-Sadr cease-fire. A breakdown of the cease-fire and a renewal of street violence could affect U.S. military plans to withdraw and redeploy troops.
A Basra city council official said that the latest fighting erupted when security forces entered Mehdi Army strongholds, where militiamen were armed with machine guns, grenades, rockets and mortars.
The fighting erupted as al-Sadr's political organization launched a nationwide civil disobedience movement to protest recent arrests of its members.
Al-Maliki is said to be personally overseeing efforts to restore order in Basra, where the latest unrest also resulted in the kidnapping of at least 30 Iraqi security force members, according to officials.
Basra, Iraq's second largest city and a key transport link in the country's oil industry, was seen as an early success story of the U.S.-led invasion as British troops oversaw a relative calm in the area. Watch markets smolder from latest violence ».
Al-Sadr extends Mehdi Army cease-fire
But spiraling tensions between local militias and government and coalition forces have produced an upsurge in violence coinciding with a major British withdrawl that will see troop numbers scaled down to between 4,000 and 2,500.
Gen. Jack Kean, a retired U.S. former vice chief of staff on Wednesday said in an radio interview that Britain should reconsider its withdrawal in favor of a U.S.-style troop surge credited with reducing unrest in Baghdad and other parts of the country, The Associated Press reported.
With the stakes high in preserving the cease-fire with al-Sadr's men the U.S. military says it is making it a point to differentiate between Sadrists and "criminal elements" within the Mehdi Army.
Since the cease-fire began in August, the U.S. and Iraqi militaries have been targeting Shiite militant cells who have flouted and ignored the al-Sadr cease-fire. At the same time, they continually praise the cease-fire as a productive move.
U.S. Cmdr. Scott Rye said al-Sadr "has made clear that those who disobey his orders and the cease-fire are no longer members of his organization. What is happening is that Iraqi security forces are responding to criminal acts and working to detain and arrest criminals in both Sadr City (in Baghdad) and Basra."
An official with Iraq's Interior Ministry tells CNN that at least 18 people were killed and 110 people were wounded when clashes erupted in a number of Baghdad Shiite neighborhoods between Mehdi militiamen and Iraqi security forces since Tuesday.
The U.S. military says a coalition helicopter "engaged targets north of Sadr City in support of this operation."
In Baghdad's International Zone, three Americans were seriously injured as a result of "indirect fire" attacks on the heavily fortified pocket in Baghdad, also known as the Green Zone. The three were U.S. government officials, embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo told CNN. Indirect fire, a reference to rocket, mortar and artillery fire, also pummeled the zone on Tuesday, and the U.S. military attributed the violence to "rogue" Shiite fighters violating al-Sadr's cease-fire announcement.
The International Zone has come under attack several times in recent days. U.S. officials said they believe Shiite militias armed and trained by Iran were behind a Sunday attack on the district.
A U.S. government employee in Baghdad has died of wounds he received in an attack over the weekend, the U.S. Embassy said Wednesday. The embassy identified him as Paul Converse.
News Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/26/iraq.main/index.html
Iraqi Mehdi Army fighters take position during clashes in the southern city of Bara.
1 of 3 Nuri al-Maliki gave the ultimatum a day after clashes erupted in the southern oil port city and Baghdad between Iraqi and U.S. security forces and fighters aligned with the Mehdi Army -- the militia of hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The fighting has killed 40 to 50 people in Basra, 18 others in Baghdad and left scores injured. Officials say the dead in Basra include Iraqi troops, police, civilians and militiamen.
Firefights broke out between "outlaws" and Iraqi security forces, according to an Interior Ministry official, who reported ongoing military operations in five neighborhoods.
Images froms the city show black-masked gunmen targeting their weapons from makeshift vantage points within the city.
In a further incident Wednesday, three U.S. government officials were seriously injured as militants targeted the International Zone in Baghdad, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.
The renewed violence in Basra and Baghdad threatens to unravel a seven-months-long suspension of Mehdi Army activities, a much-praised cease-fire called by al-Sadr that the U.S. military says has decreased violence across Iraq.
Growing tension between the Sadrist movement and Iraqi authorities has boiled over in recent weeks, with Sadrists saying they have been unfairly targeted and detained in U.S. and Iraqi raids.
The U.S. military says it has been targeting Shiite militants who have flouted the al-Sadr cease-fire. A breakdown of the cease-fire and a renewal of street violence could affect U.S. military plans to withdraw and redeploy troops.
A Basra city council official said that the latest fighting erupted when security forces entered Mehdi Army strongholds, where militiamen were armed with machine guns, grenades, rockets and mortars.
The fighting erupted as al-Sadr's political organization launched a nationwide civil disobedience movement to protest recent arrests of its members.
Al-Maliki is said to be personally overseeing efforts to restore order in Basra, where the latest unrest also resulted in the kidnapping of at least 30 Iraqi security force members, according to officials.
Basra, Iraq's second largest city and a key transport link in the country's oil industry, was seen as an early success story of the U.S.-led invasion as British troops oversaw a relative calm in the area. Watch markets smolder from latest violence ».
Al-Sadr extends Mehdi Army cease-fire
But spiraling tensions between local militias and government and coalition forces have produced an upsurge in violence coinciding with a major British withdrawl that will see troop numbers scaled down to between 4,000 and 2,500.
Gen. Jack Kean, a retired U.S. former vice chief of staff on Wednesday said in an radio interview that Britain should reconsider its withdrawal in favor of a U.S.-style troop surge credited with reducing unrest in Baghdad and other parts of the country, The Associated Press reported.
With the stakes high in preserving the cease-fire with al-Sadr's men the U.S. military says it is making it a point to differentiate between Sadrists and "criminal elements" within the Mehdi Army.
Since the cease-fire began in August, the U.S. and Iraqi militaries have been targeting Shiite militant cells who have flouted and ignored the al-Sadr cease-fire. At the same time, they continually praise the cease-fire as a productive move.
U.S. Cmdr. Scott Rye said al-Sadr "has made clear that those who disobey his orders and the cease-fire are no longer members of his organization. What is happening is that Iraqi security forces are responding to criminal acts and working to detain and arrest criminals in both Sadr City (in Baghdad) and Basra."
An official with Iraq's Interior Ministry tells CNN that at least 18 people were killed and 110 people were wounded when clashes erupted in a number of Baghdad Shiite neighborhoods between Mehdi militiamen and Iraqi security forces since Tuesday.
The U.S. military says a coalition helicopter "engaged targets north of Sadr City in support of this operation."
In Baghdad's International Zone, three Americans were seriously injured as a result of "indirect fire" attacks on the heavily fortified pocket in Baghdad, also known as the Green Zone. The three were U.S. government officials, embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo told CNN. Indirect fire, a reference to rocket, mortar and artillery fire, also pummeled the zone on Tuesday, and the U.S. military attributed the violence to "rogue" Shiite fighters violating al-Sadr's cease-fire announcement.
The International Zone has come under attack several times in recent days. U.S. officials said they believe Shiite militias armed and trained by Iran were behind a Sunday attack on the district.
A U.S. government employee in Baghdad has died of wounds he received in an attack over the weekend, the U.S. Embassy said Wednesday. The embassy identified him as Paul Converse.
News Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/26/iraq.main/index.html