Source: Reuters
BASRA, Iraq, April 19 (Reuters) - Heavy fighting broke out in the Iraqi city of Basra on Saturday, where police said government forces entered a neighbourhood known as a stronghold of fighters loyal to the anti-U.S. cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr.
A Reuters reporter in the city said he had heard the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions at dawn.
He described it as the heaviest fighting for weeks in the southern city, where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers late last month.
Police said Iraqi forces had entered the centre of Hayaniya, a neighbourhood known as a stronghold of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
No information about casualties was immediately available. (Reporting by Aref Mohammed; writing by Peter Graff in Baghdad; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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Show of force as Iraqi forces advance in Basra
19 Apr 2008 09:34:56 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Iraqi forces say capture Mehdi Army stronghold in Basra
* U.S., British stage show of force
* Sadr City fighting kills 12
(Adds British spokesman, show of force)
By Aref Mohammed
BASRA, Iraq, April 19 (Reuters) - Iraqi government troops said they captured a stronghold of fighters loyal to anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Basra on Saturday after a big show of force by U.S. warplanes and British artillery.
In Baghdad, fighting continued through the night after fierce clashes late on Friday in the Sadr City slum, the cleric's power base in the capital. Police said 12 people had been killed and hospitals received more than 130 wounded.
In the southern oil hub of Basra, thundering explosions and gunfire could be heard at dawn in the heaviest bombardment since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers late last month in the southern city.
The commander of Iraqi forces in Basra, Lieutenant-General Mohan al-Furaiji, told Reuters his troops had seized the centre of the Hayaniya neighbourhood, one of the main strongholds of Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters.
"Our troops moved in there, and now they have reached the centre of Hayaniya. Now there are no confrontations, and anyone carrying weapons will be arrested," he said.
"We are chasing fugitives and arresting them. We expect within the next few hours that the operation will be concluded successfully."
After several hours the fighting appeared to die down but sporadic gunfire could still be heard.
Maliki's crackdown against the Mehdi Army in Basra in late March initially failed to drive the militia from the streets and resulted in battles throughout the south of the country and the capital Baghdad.
The prime minister, himself a Shi'ite, has since threatened to ban Sadr's mass movement from political life if the cleric does not disband the Mehdi Army. In response, Sadr threatened to formally scrap a ceasefire he imposed on his militia last August, a move that could trigger a full-scale uprising.
The fighting against Shi'ite militiamen has been the biggest test so far of Iraq's government troops, which have been forced to take the lead, particularly in the south where there are few U.S. forces and British troops are mainly confined to a single base in Basra.
SHOW OF FORCE
British military spokesman Major Tom Holloway said Saturday's offensive had been launched with a heavy bombardment by U.S. warplanes and British artillery "to give a demonstration of the firepower available if required".
The American and British forces pounded a deserted area west of Hayaniya before Iraqi troops entered the neighbourhood, he said. The bombardment was intended to be the biggest show of force since the crackdown began in late March, he added.
No information about casualties was immediately available.
Sadr's spokesman in the holy city of Najaf, Salah al-Ubaidi, said the humanitarian situation in Hayaniya was "tragic".
"They have surrounded the district and are preventing the wounded from going to hospitals. Then they started a ground attack," he told Reuters. "It is a very crowded area and they attacked it with rockets as if it were a military base."
Harith al-Idhari, head of the Sadr office in Basra, said Mehdi Army fighters were putting up no resistance, in observance of a ceasefire declared by the cleric.
In Baghdad, police described battles that began during sandstorms on Friday afternoon in Sadr City as among the heaviest in the capital since the crackdown began. U.S. forces said Iraqi troops held their ground as fighters assaulted in a blinding dust.
Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover said U.S. troops were involved in sporadic clashes that continued into Saturday. U.S. forces killed two fighters with a helicopter missile strike overnight, he said.
The Americans are building a wall around the southern edge of Sadr City, angering residents who have been trapped in the crowded battle zone for weeks. Stover said the wall was needed for security to rebuild a market burned down during fighting.
A Reuters reporter in Nassiriya, another southern provincial capital, said there were clashes between government troops and Mehdi Army fighters in a nearby town and a curfew was imposed. A hospital said it had received three wounded policemen.
U.S. commanders have said the March crackdown in Basra was carried out too suddenly and poorly planned. The government fired 1,300 soldiers and police for refusing to stand and fight.
But in the weeks since, government forces have moved more slowly and deliberately into Sadr-controlled areas, arresting Mehdi Army figures while largely avoiding major street battles.
On Monday they scored a victory in Basra, freeing a British journalist in a raid on a house where he was held by militants. (Additional reporting by Peter Graff, Khaled Farhan, Noah Barkin and Aws Qusay in Baghad; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Charles Dick)
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