|  Iraqi security forces have clashed with fighters from the Mahdi Army of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Basra, amid demands by the group that detained members be released.
Mortar and gun fire was heard on Tuesday after security forces entered the neighbourhood of al-Tamiya, a Mahdi Army stronghold, the AFP news agency said.
Clashes later spread to five other neighbourhoods, including al-Jumhuriya, Five Miles and al-Hayania, the Mahdi Army's main stronghold in Basra, 550km south of Baghdad.
At least four people have been killed and 18 wounded in the fighting, Abbas Youssef, police major, said.
The fighting started at 2am (0500GMT) soon after a night-time curfew was imposed on Basra province, and hours after Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, arrived in the city on a visit.
At least four people were killed and 18 wounded, Major Abbas Youssef, a police commander, said.
Al-Maliki in Basra
Al-Maliki is said to be personally overseeing the operation in Basra against the Mahdi Army, a British army spokesman said.
Major Tom Holloway said: "The prime minister came down to Basra from Baghdad yesterday along with a delegation. He is overseeing the operation. He is at an Iraqi military base."
Basra province was handed over to Iraqi control by British forces in mid-December.
James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Iraq, said: "[The British forces] are sort of on standby if they are really needed ... they could help out this operation in a number of ways, with air support for this operation, either with bombing or surveillance useful to Iraqi forces on the ground."
"There are groups of competing militia on the ground. The main ones are al-Sadr's fighters ... but there are lots of other splinter groups. On top of that there are criminal gangs and smugglers in Basra."
Al-Sadr has instructed the Mahdi Army to maintain its ceasefire across Iraq in recent weeks.
However, the US military and Iraqi security forces have detained al-Sadr loyalists they accuse of belonging to breakaway armed factions.
Al-Sadr said that his group could lead a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience in response to the Iraqi security forces' operation in Basra.
He also said he would launch a nationwide strike unless attacks against members of his movement cease.
"We demand that religious and political leaders intervene to stop the attacks on poor people," a statement read by Hazam al-Aaraji, an al-Sadr representative, said.
"We call on all Iraqis to launch protests across all the provinces. If the government does not respect these demands, the second step will be general civil disobedience in Baghdad and the Iraqi provinces."
Motives questioned Sheikh Ahmed al-Ali, a member of al-Sadr's office in Basra, said the group could not understand why Iraqi security forces had launched an operation against it. "This ongoing operation in Basra appears to be security-related, while, in fact, it is a political one," he told Al Jazeera. 
| Basra was handed to Iraqi
forces in December [AFP] | "The al-Sadr trend in Basra has frequently said that it supports the Iraqi government and the Iraqi forces in Basra. "Al-Mahdi Army is not a military army, as some believe. It is a doctrinal army that serves the society. And that is why al-Mahdi Army has had a great role in supporting the Iraqi security forces in Basra." A number of presidential palaces and Iraqi security and military bases in Basra city came under intensive attack during the assault, Fadel Abdul Hassan, an Iraqi journalist, told Al Jazeera. Mahdi Army forces also stormed the main Iraqi army base in Shatt al-Arab camp in the city, he said.
Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the security forces were fighting against "those that are exploiting the name of the Mahdi, those that are exploiting the name of Muqtada al-Sadr".
"There will no be no dialogue with them [the fighters] but there definitely will be dialogue with Muqtada al-Sadr himself," he said.
Announcing the operation late on Monday, General Mohan al-Furayji, the Iraqi commander in charge of security in the south of Iraq, said vehicle access from neighbouring provinces would be temporarily closed during the evening hours from Wednesday and until Friday.
Schools closed Teaching at schools and universities has also been suspended from Tuesday until Thursday.
Amid the security operation in Basra, hundreds of people marched through western Baghdad on Tuesday to protest against arrests of al-Sadr loyalists.
Leaders of al-Sadr's bloc in Baghdad called for its supporters to close their shops and businesses in protest at members' arrests. The call was heeded on Monday in Amil and Baiyaa, two predominantly Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad. Police said Mahdi Army members issued general strike orders in three other areas of southwestern Baghdad and in Mahmudiya, about 30km south of the capital. "This civil disobedience may be called for in the rest of Baghdad and maybe in southern provinces if the government does not free our detainees," Ali al-Mayali, a politician loyal to al-Sadr, said on Monday. |
