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Title: Moqtada al-Sadr Orders Iraq PM Out Of Basra
Source:
Telegraph UK
URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai ... =/news/2008/03/26/wiraq326.xml
Published: Mar 26, 2008
Author: Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspo
Post Date: 2008-03-26 19:05:44 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 47
Comments: 1
The Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has demanded that the country's prime minister leave Basra where he is overseeing a military operation to purge the southern city of its radical Shi'ite militiamen. Relations between Sadr and Nouri al-Maliki have deteriorated sharply as the two men clashed over fighting between Iraqi forces and gunmen in Sadrist communities in Iraq. Mr Maliki gave followers of Sadr and other Shi'ite gunmen 72 hours to surrender their weapons and renounce violence or bear the brunt of a military crackdown. "We are not going to chase those who hand over their weapons within 72 hours," said Mr Maliki. "If they do not surrender their arms, the law will follow its course." A spokesman for Sadr said his movement had appealed to Mr Maliki to reduce tensions in the city by returning to Baghdad and sending a parliamentary delegation to seek an end to fighting. Liwa Sumaysim, a spokesman for Sadr said: "Sadr has asked prime minister Maliki to leave Basra and to send a parliamentary delegation to resolve the crisis in the city." Fighting has raged in Basra since Tuesday morning. A military operation targeting rogue elements of the group was also underway in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, where four deaths were have been reported on Wednesday. Police said that seven people died in fighting in Basra on Wednesday while hospital sources put the total death toll at 40 and the number of wounded at 200. "Those killed and wounded included men, women and children," said an interior ministry official. "The wounded have been admitted to five different hospitals in and around Sadr City." Residents of the sprawling city said those involved in the fighting were Sadr's Mahdi army members but the US military said it was targeting "rogue terrorist and criminal elements". Police said 218 militiamen had been detained since the launch of the security sweep, which has been codenamed Saulat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights.) The latest round of fighting prompted a call from one of America's most respected retired officers, General Jack Keane, for British forces to reconsider their withdrawal from the city. The general, architect of America's "surge" policy in Iraq, has said Britain must do more to fight Iranian-backed gangs in Basra. "The security situation is worsening," he told the BBC's Today programme. "It is a myth to say that this is just a political problem. We must maintain security and stability in Basra and the surrounding provinces, which we do not have today."
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