World Apr. 02, 2008 - 06:29AM JST ( 10 )

BAGHDAD —

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that a crackdown on Shiite militiamen in Basra was a success and that 10,000 extra troops would be recruited to keep order in the southern oil hub.

His statement came as officials said the toll from a military assault the premier ordered on Shiite militias a week ago had helped propel the March tally of Iraqis killed to 1,082, the highest monthly total since August.

Figures obtained from the interior, defense and health ministries showed that 925 civilians, 54 soldiers and 103 policemen were killed—up 50% on February’s figure of 721.

Of the Iraqis killed, around 460 were casualties of a week of bitter fighting between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr which began in Basra but quickly spread to other Shiite areas of central and southern Iraq and to Baghdad.

Maliki said he had decided to implement a seven-point program in Basra following “the stability and success of the security plan which achieved the aim of imposing law in the city and restoring normalcy.”

The new plan includes boosting security forces in Basra by recruiting 10,000 new troops, restoring services, imposing a strict check on vehicles without licenses, building new houses for the poor and turning government-owned palaces into tourist destinations.

Later Tuesday, Maliki returned to Baghdad after personally spearheading the assaults in Basra.

“We went to Basra after its people complained of criminals who targeted the governorate’s security, its men, women, clerics, doctors and engineers,” he said in a statement broadcast by state television.

“The government responded and fulfilled its responsibility. We delivered a painful blow to these gangs. They lost their mind and escaped leaving their weapons in the streets.”

In London, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said the government will delay reductions in Basra troop levels.

“At this stage we intend to keep our forces at the current levels of around 4,000, as we work with our coalition partners and with the Iraqis to assess our future requirements,” he told the House of Commons.

London was initially planning to cut the level to 2,500 this spring.

Basra has emerged as a major turf for intense infighting between Shiite factions of Sadr and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council of powerful politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the lesser known Fadhila Party.

Earlier Tuesday, Maliki had ordered security forces to stop raiding and arresting Shiite militiamen randomly but said they should “deal strongly with any groups carrying arms in public”.

Harith al-Athari, chief of Sadr’s office in Basra, said the militiamen were being “exposed to random arrests and raids, houses of the members were being burned. This is in violation of what has been agreed upon.”

Sadr hailed the Mahdi Army for resisting the Iraqi security forces during the fighting.

“I greet you and thank you for facing the difficulties, being patient, obedient, supportive of each other, defending your land, people and honor,” Sadr said in a statement released by his office in the shrine city of Najaf late Monday.

The March death tally confirms a reversal of the trend of gradually decreasing violence since June and follows tolls of 541 in January, 568 in December, 606 in November, 887 in October, 917 in September and 1,856 in August.

The number of people wounded in March was 1,630, almost double February’s tally of 847.

U.S. military losses in Iraq also rose in March, with 37 killed, up from 29 in February, according to independent website icasualties.org.

The death toll in January had reached a 23-month low, with U.S. commanders saying all types of attacks were down to levels not seen before the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the town of Samarra that unleashed a wave of sectarian violence.

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count The bloodshed that erupted after the shrine attack peaked in January 2007, with 1,992 deaths reported by the three ministries.

AFP