Baghdad under curfew as Iraqi forces battle militia

Friday 28th March, 07:09 AM JST

BAGHDAD —

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed Thursday to pursue a crackdown on Shiite gunmen despite protests and mounting casualties, as Iraqi forces battled militias in Basra and Kut and slapped a three-day curfew on Baghdad.

Iraq’s military authorities imposed a total curfew in Baghdad until Sunday to contain the fighting between Shiite militants and Iraqi troops, security officials said, adding that the lockdown would be effective until dawn Sunday.

At least 105 people have died countrywide in clashes since Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on “lawless gangs” in Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.

Iraqi troops have clashed with Shiite gunmen in areas controlled by Sadr’s so-called Mahdi Army since Tuesday, severely straining a “freeze” he ordered of the militia’s activities last August.

Sadr appealed late Thursday for a “peaceful and political solution to end the crisis,” according to a statement which a Sadr official in Najaf said would be distributed to the cleric’s supporters across Iraq.

In Baghdad, Sadr’s followers had earlier staged noisy protests against the crackdown in Basra and demanded the resignation of Maliki, who is personally overseeing the military operations.

The prime minister vowed not to back away from the military onslaught, despite Sadr’s threat to launch a civil revolt if the attacks continued.

“We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth,” he said in a statement.

Basra has become the theater of a 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.

In an interview with state television Al-Iraqiya, Maliki said the operation was not aimed at any particular political faction.

“Frankly we don’t care who these gangs are linked to,” he said. “They violated laws, attacked property and killed innocents. We were surprised, however, that a specific political faction just exploded and gathered its forces to block the work of the government and started to attack the police,” he added, without identifying the group.

Maliki’s offensive drew praise from U.S. President George W Bush, who called the fighting in Basra a “positive moment” for the development of Iraqi security forces and proof the Baghdad government could defend itself.

Fighting in the city of Kut, 175 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, killed four police and 40 Shiite militiamen, police chief Abdul Hanin al-Amara said.

“The security forces launched an operation at around midnight Wednesday to take back areas under the control of Shiite gunmen,” Amara said, adding that police were now in control of the neighborhoods.

Heavy fighting erupted early Thursday in the central Jumhuriyah neighborhood, a Mahdi Army bastion, where militiamen attacked troops with mortars, machineguns, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.

Police said Basra police chief Major General Abdul Jalil Khalaf survived a suicide car bomb attack in central Basra but three policemen were killed.

A pall of thick black smoke hung over the port city after a blast damaged an oil pipeline transporting crude from Zubair oil field to the Al-Faw storage facility.

Samir al-Maksusi, spokesman for the Southern Oil Company, said a fire caused by the blast had been extinguished, but that exports would be directly affected.

“The technical crew needs 48 to 72 hours to repair the pipeline,” he said.

News of the attack as well as general nervousness over the fighting in Basra sent oil prices soaring above $107 a barrel in London.

Meanwhile, eight people were killed in clashes in the province of Babel, south of the capital, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

In Baghdad, insurgents fired five rockets into the heavily fortified Green Zone, killing one civilian and wounding 14, the U.S. military said.

In Sadr City, an impoverished Shiite district of around two million people in east Baghdad, crowds gathered outside the Sadr office to yell slogans against Maliki.

“Maliki you are a coward! Maliki is an American agent! Leave the government, Maliki! How can you strike Basra?” the crowd chanted.

In Kadhimiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad, Sadr followers carried a coffin covered in red fabric with a photograph of Maliki set against the background of an American flag, referring to him as “dictator.”

Wire reports

8 Comments

Betzee at 10:36 AM JST - 28th March

Oh where, oh where are the posters who chide the skeptics over our doubts about the Iraqis' "readiness" for democracy????

This is in fact hinges on whether a country that has been under authoritarian dictatorial rule--Iraq, Tibet, or any other--can develop democratic institutions able to mediate conflicts and resolve them in a way disputants can, if not respect, at least accept.

By that standard, most observers would have predicted the prospects for post-Saddam Iraq to become a functioning democracy were poor. The long-standing history of secretarian tensions, which were inflamed by holding elections in which everyone voted for their own kind, the inevitable disputes over how to equitably divide the oil revenues (that were going to pay for the reconstruction), and the chaos unleashed by the abrupt dissolution of authority with nothing to replace it. Order was never reestablished after Saddam's regime was toppled despite all the fanfare over the past months claiming "the surge is working."
Taka313 at 12:14 PM JST - 28th March

Betzee, I expect that we will see the "heads I win; tails you lose" argument trotted out very soon. When violence was down, we heard the war cheerleaders say that the surge was working (while completely avoiding discussion about the Iraqi govt. still being AWOL). Now that there is an increase in violence and death, we'll hear that it's because the surge is working and that this is more last throes type behavior from the multi-labeled ones fighting against the coalition of the coerced. One thing we know for sure, no matter if the violence is increasing, decresaing, spilling over or non-existant, whatever happens, we will be told that the solution is to stay the course but out of fairness, we're going to take a look at things and re-evaluate in 6 months.

Taka
adaydream at 01:13 PM JST - 28th March

Al-Sadr knows that this can only be resolved through negotiations with the government.

But with the Iraqi gov't shooting and the U. S. Military backing this action, there will be no negotiations. There will only be death.

Al-Sadr and the people don't just want to give up their oil reserves to the Iraq/U. S. gov't control. They will never receive a rightful due.

The surge is waining toward a close and the violence is rebuilding...surprise. No, I for one said it would be this way. The numbers needed to keep the violence down can't be sustained. Unless the Iraqis figure out a way to work through this, there will never be an end to this.
Zaphod at 04:16 PM JST - 28th March

[i]Al-Sadr knows that this can only be resolved through negotiations with the government.[/i]

Ridiculous. Al-Sadr wants to be the government, so what is there to negotiate? Either way, the US plan of turning Iraq into a democracy with the help of the Shiite majority remains a pipedream.
adaydream at 10:52 PM JST - 28th March

So now we get reports that the U. S. is dropping bombs on Basra. I guess this is the only right thing to do. I mean we have destroyed the most of the country, might as well destroy the rest of the country before the democrats put a stop to the U. S.'s carnage.
Zaphod at 02:36 AM JST - 29th March

[i]I mean we have destroyed the most of the country, might as well destroy the rest of the country before the democrats put a stop to the U. S.’s carnage. [/i]

Ridiculous. If the US is dropping bombs, they are doing that on behalf of the Maliki government, which is battling the Mahdi armee. The wisdom of acting as Malikis airforce can be questioned, but "destroying the country" is a stupid description.

And the Democrats will not put any "stop" to any "carnage". Obama has already said that he will return when Al Quaida opens camps in Iraq after he pulls out.... meaning that he will pull out and then move right back in. In other words, look forward to a gigantic, stupid, moving exercise.
adaydream at 04:10 AM JST - 29th March

Believe what "you" want.

The Al-Maliki Army is pulling back because they can't stand the heat. The U. S. is bombing the capital on behalf of the oil companies.

Now Al-Maliki is giving Al-Sadr 11 days to stop/surrender. Gives the Americans plenty of time to bomb the living hell out of Basra.
Taka313 at 10:10 AM JST - 29th March

Betzee, As lunch likes to say, "can I call 'em or what?"

From the Times online:

In an interview with The Times, he backed the Iraqi Government’s decision to “respond forcefully” to the spiralling violence by “criminal elements” and Shia extremists in Basra. “It was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation that is willing to take on elements that believe they are beyond the law,” the President said.

Taka