Iraq leader gives Shiite militias in Basra three days to surrender

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki gave Shiite Muslim militiamen in Basra three days to surrender as fighting raged Wednesday in the southern Shiite heartland and parts of Baghdad, leaving more than 80 people dead in two days.

Basra residents trapped in their homes by raging gun battles worried that food was running out with no end in sight to the clashes between Iraqi security forces and followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr and other armed factions.

In Baghdad, volleys of rocket and mortar fire shook areas Wednesday, including the fortified Green Zone, site of the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government offices. One U.S. soldier, two American civilians and an Iraqi soldier were wounded in the attacks, the military said.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks Wednesday in Baghdad, the military said. The deaths brought to at least 4,002 the number of American military personnel who have died since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, according to the website icasulties.org.

Fighting erupted in Basra on Tuesday when Iraqi government security forces announced the launch of a crackdown against armed factions and criminal gangs that have been vying for control of the city, Iraq's second-largest, and its lucrative oil industry. More than 30 people were killed and 100 injured there, health officials said.

The level of resistance to the crackdown represented a major challenge to Maliki's authority and deepened fears that a cease-fire declared last year by Sadr may be in danger of collapse. The truce by his Mahdi Army militia has played a key part in the significant decline in violence since a U.S. troop buildup reached its peak in June.

Sadr's followers have complained for months that American and Iraqi security forces, many of them with ties to rival Shiite factions in the government, are taking advantage of the truce to arrest Mahdi Army fighters and weaken his movement before the provincial elections scheduled for Oct. 1. Sadr's representatives called Tuesday for nationwide protests in response to the latest crackdown.

The unrest quickly spread to Kut, Hillah and several neighborhoods of Baghdad, where small groups of demonstrators took to the streets and Mahdi Army fighters traded gunfire with U.S. and Iraqi security forces and rival militias.

Late Wednesday, explosions could also be heard in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

Maliki, who is overseeing the campaign from Basra, issued a statement giving gunmen 72 hours to surrender, turn in their weapons and sign a pledge renouncing violence or face what he said would be serious penalties.

Sadr issued no comment. Officials at his Najaf headquarters said the cleric was urging his followers to respect the truce and would send representatives to Basra to negotiate with local leaders.

Liwa Sumaysim, who heads Sadr's political operations nationwide, said Maliki's presence and the deployment to Basra of 3,500 extra police officers and soldiers were a provocation and they should leave.

Members of Maliki's coalition government insisted Wednesday that the crackdown was not aimed at Sadr but at "outlaws" and "criminals" who they alleged have infiltrated Basra's government, security forces and oil industry through violence and intimidation.

"This campaign isn't against any particular group, but rather against organized criminal groups . . . responsible for killing numerous professors, doctors and religious clerics in Basra," said Haider Abadi, a lawmaker with Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party.

U.S. officials in Washington expressed approval Wednesday for the offensive, which comes two weeks before Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is due to present a report on Iraq strategy to Congress.

Yet the rise in violence, particularly in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, could contradict administration claims that the troop buildup has led to greater stability and safety across Iraq.

U.S. officials have credited Sadr's cease-fire, declared in late August, for helping lower the level of violence. But some American officials voiced concern Wednesday that the truce would be jeopardized by the aggressive measures in Basra.

Steven Hadley, President Bush's national security advisor, said the offensive was aimed at militiamen who have defied Sadr's order to lay down arms.

"It's not a move, as we read it, by the central government to repudiate the cease-fire in any way," Hadley said.

Administration officials said the operation was an important sign that the Shiite-dominated Maliki government was finally willing to take the initiative against extremist elements within its own religious sect.