BASRA, 28 March 2008 — Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki vowed yesterday to pursue a crackdown on Shiite gunmen despite protests and mounting casualties, as Iraqi troops battled militia in the cities of Basra and Kut. At least 105 people have died countrywide in clashes since Al-Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on “lawless gangs” in Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the death toll at twice that.
The military operations have been mostly in areas controlled by the Mehdi Army fighters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, severely straining a “freeze” he ordered of the militia’s activities last August.
In Baghdad, Sadr’s followers staged noisy protests against the crackdown in Basra and demand the resignation of Al-Maliki, who is personally overseeing the military operations. Sadr has threatened to launch a civil revolt if the attacks against his militiamen continue.
Al-Maliki vowed not to back away from the military onslaught. “We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth,” he said in a statement, vowing not to back off. Basra has become the theater of a turf war between the Mehdi Army and two rival Shiite factions — the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party.
In an interview with state television Al-Iraqiya, Al-Maliki said the operation was not aimed at any particular political faction. “Frankly we don’t care whom these gangs are linked to,” he said. “They violated laws, attacked property and killed innocents. We were surprised, however, that a specific political faction just exploded and gathered its forces to block the work of the government and started to attack the police.”
Oil Pipeline Damaged
The port city of Basra was covered by thick black smoke yesterday from a blast that damaged an oil pipeline transporting crude from Zubair oil field to the Al-Faw storage facility. Samir Al-Maksusi, spokesman for the Southern Oil Company, said the bomb attack would directly affect exports. He said the fire was later extinguished. News of the attack as well as general nervousness over the fighting in Basra sent oil prices jumping above 107 dollars a barrel in London.
Eight people, meanwhile, were killed in clashes in the province of Babel, south of the capital, Iraqi and US officials said.
In Baghdad, insurgents fired rockets into the heavily fortified Green Zone yesterday, killing one civilian and wounding 14, the US military said.
Also, in Sadr City, crowds gathered outside the Sadr office to yell slogans against Al-Maliki.
“Al-Maliki you are a coward! Al-Maliki is an American agent! Leave the government, Al-Maliki! How can you strike Basra?” the crowd chanted.
‘Positive Moment’: Bush
In Washington, US President George W. Bush yesterday called the fighting in Basra a “positive moment” for the development of Iraqi security forces and proof the Baghdad government could defend itself.
He praised Nuri Al-Maliki for launching a “tough battle against militia fighters and criminals” in Basra, citing it as evidence Baghdad is taking advantage of security gains by US forces.
“Prime Minister Al-Maliki’s bold decision, and it was a bold decision, to go after the illegal groups in Basra shows his leadership and his commitment to enforce the law in an even-handed manner,” Bush said. “It also shows the progress the Iraqi security forces have made during the surge.”
Bush’s speech, at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, was one of a series of public addresses he has delivered in defense of the five-year-old war ahead of congressional testimony and an administration decision next month on the way forward in Iraq after last year’s US troop surge.
