 Fighters have struck at the heart of the Iraqi administration, with the heavily defended Green Zone in Baghdad coming under repeated mortar barrage.The attacks on Thursday came as Basra remained in the grip of heavy fighting for the third day between the Iraqi army and Shia militias, with reports of explosions every few minutes. Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, was in Basra personally overseeing the operation that has sparked violence across the country, leaving more than 50 people dead and another 300 injured. Three US employees were reported to be seriously wounded in the Green Zone mortar attacks. The violence began on Tuesday, when Iraqi troops launched operations to rid Basra of "lawless gangs". Fighting then spread to al-Sadr's stronghold in Baghdad and other cities. Najaf meetings Behind the scenes, government officials and senior Mahdi Army figures loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader, are said to be holding talks to end the fighting. Meetings were held in Najaf on Thursday to try to end the crisis, Liqa Ali Yassin, a member of al-Sadr's 32-member parliamentary bloc, said. On Wednesday, al-Sadr had demanded that al-Maliki leave Basra and send a parliamentary delegation for talks on resolving the crisis. Thursday's clashes came in defiance of a Friday deadline given by al-Maliki for armed groups to give up their weapons or face "severe penalties". A fire also raged near Basra after a bomb exploded underneath an oil pipeline, Iraqi officials said. The oil-rich city, located 550km south of Baghdad, is home to about 1.5 million people. Al-Maliki condemned Followers of al-Sadr staged protests in Baghdad on Thursday to denounce the Basra crackdown. In the Sadr City district, demonstrators shouted: "Maliki you are a coward! Maliki is an American agent! Leave the government, Maliki! How can you strike Basra?" Protests were also planned in the southern city of Amara. Al-Sadr has threatened to launch a civil revolt if attacks against his supporters are not halted. Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Baghdad, said the crackdown in Basra was meant as a show of strength by al-Maliki. "I think the prime minister is trying to put his stamp in this operation. No one expected that he would go to Basra," he said. "Al-Maliki wants to show that he is in control because in the past, he was seen as a weak, impotent leader." Conflicting reports Iraqi sources told Al Jazeera that about 60 civilians were killed in a US air strike on the city of southern city of Hilla, although there were conflicting reports. Iraqi security sources said that 29 people were killed. The Basra operation extended north to Kut, where six Iraqi security personnel and six civilians were reportedly killed as troops fought militia members street by street. To the west in Diwaniyah, Shia fighters attacked a police station, killing two people. In Tikrit, at least seven civilians were reportedly killed and nine others were wounded in US air strikes that destroyed two homes, according to Al Jazeera sources. Khalaf Haloul, a resident of Amara, told Al Jazeera by telephone that clashes between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army were under way there as well. He said mortars and rockets could be heard across the city. Mahdi Army fighters had deployed in all areas of Amara in anticipation of military attacks, Haloul said. Convoy attack The fighting was most intense in Basra. Colonel Karim al-Zaidi, a police spokesman, said the convoy of Major-General Abdul Jalil Khalaf, the city's police chief, was hit by a suicide car bomber around 1am on Thursday [2200 GMT Wednesday] as it passed through the streets of the city. Al-Zaidi said three policemen were killed in the attack but Khalaf was unharmed. Residents said the streets of Basra were deserted on Thursday and that shops and businesses were shut. Before the current unrest, Basra had become the battlefield for a turf war between the Mahdi Army and two rival Shia factions - the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party. The three factions are fighting to control the huge oil revenues generated in the province, which was transferred to Iraqi control by the British military in December. US military spokesman Major-General Kevin Bergner said on Wednesday that 2,000 extra Iraqi security forces had been sent to Basra for the operation. He said it was aimed at improving security in the city ahead of provincial elections in October. "The prime minister's assessement is that without this operation there will not be any hopeful prospect of improving security in Basra," Bergner said. |
10:12 AM
Fighting continues in Basra
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