Maliki gives Shi'ite militiamen 3-day ultimatum to surrender
Despite warning, fighting escalates in Basra, Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave Shi'ite Muslim militiamen in Basra three days to surrender as fighting raged yesterday in the southern Shi'ite heartland and parts of Baghdad, leaving more than 80 people dead since the previous day.
Basra residents trapped in their homes by raging gun battles worried that food was running out with no end in sight to the clashes between Iraqi security forces, followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and other armed factions.
Volleys of rocket and mortar fire shook the capital yesterday, including the fortified Green Zone which houses the US Embassy and Iraqi government offices. One US soldier, two American civilians, and an Iraqi soldier were wounded in the attacks, the military said.
Two US soldiers were killed by hostile fire in separate attacks yesterday in Baghdad, the military said without naming the assailants. The deaths lifted to at least 4,002 the number of American personnel killed since the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, according to the independent website icasulties.org.
Fighting erupted Tuesday in Basra when Iraqi government security forces announced the launch of a crackdown against armed factions and criminal gangs that are vying for control of the city and its lucrative oil industry. By yesterday, more than 30 people had been killed and 100 injured in Iraq's second largest city, health officials said.
The level of resistance represented a major challenge to Maliki's authority and deepened fears that a cease-fire declared last year by Sadr might be in danger of collapse. The truce has played a key part in the significant drop in violence since a US troop buildup reached its peak in June.
Sadr's followers have charged for months that American and Iraqi security forces, many of them with ties to rival Shi'ite factions within the government, are taking advantage of the truce to arrest members of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and weaken his movement ahead of provincial elections slated for Oct. 1. Sadr's representatives called Tuesday for nationwide protests in response to the latest crackdown.
The unrest quickly spread to Kut, Hillah, and several neighborhoods of Baghdad, where small groups of demonstrators took to the streets and members of the Mahdi Army traded gunfire with US and Iraqi security forces and rival militias. Late yesterday, explosions could also be heard in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.
A statement from Maliki, who is overseeing the campaign from Basra, gave gunmen 72 hours to turn themselves in, surrender their weapons, and sign a written pledge renouncing violence or face what he termed as serious penalties.
Sadr himself issued no comment. But officials at his Najaf headquarters said the cleric was urging his followers to respect the truce and would send representatives to Basra to negotiate with local leaders.
At the same time, Liwa Sumeysim, who heads Sadr's political operations nationwide, said Maliki's presence and the deployment of 3,500 extra police and soldiers to Basra were a provocation and they should leave.
Members of Maliki's governing coalition maintained yesterday that the crackdown was not aimed at Sadr but at the "outlaws" and "criminals" who have infiltrated Basra's government, security forces, and oil industry through violence and intimidation.
"This campaign isn't against any particular group, but rather against organized criminal groups . . . responsible for killing numerous professors, doctors and religious clerics in Basra," said Haider Abadi, a Parliament representative and member of Maliki's Islamic Dawa party.
US officials in Washington voiced approval yesterday for the offensive, which comes just two weeks before Army General David H. Petraeus, the overall commander in Iraq, is due to present recommendations for Iraq strategy to Congress.
Yet the spike in violence, particularly in Sadr City, could compromise administration claims that an 18-month troop buildup has led to greater stability and safety across Iraq.
