Sadr loyalists warn of end to cease-fire

BAGHDAD – Loyalists of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr today accused government forces of breaching a cease-fire with continued raids in the southern city of Basra and threatened a “return to conflict.”

The warning came just a day after Basra and Baghdad felt the full effect of the cease-fire, which Sadr called late Sunday following five days of clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces.

The call to his Mahdi Army fighters to put down their weapons brought relative calm to both cities, where curfews were lifted and rocket, mortar and other attacks dropped.

Basra remained tense, though, and a statement released today by the Sadr Movement office there said neighborhoods known as Sadr strongholds continued to be “subjected to an aggressive campaign of raids, detentions and destruction.” It said Iraqi security forces and their supporters, a reference to U.S. and British troops, had destroyed four houses in Jubeila, in central Basra, and detained “tens of families.”

There was no confirmation of the allegations. Neither the U.S. nor British military immediately reported involvement in any operations in Basra today, though their forces have taken part in earlier fighting there.

Whether the Sadr accusations were true or not, their airing showed the animosity that remained between Sadr and the Iraqi government, and it underscored the tenuous state of the truce.

The fighting that began in Basra last Tuesday and spread to other Shiite strongholds killed 605 people, Iraqi officials said Monday. That sent the country’s war-related death toll for March to its highest level in several months, according to statistics released Monday night by Iraq’s Interior Ministry.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said the offensive was aimed at criminal elements, not at the Mahdi Army, which is a rival to the government-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, or SIIC. The two movements and their militias are vying for power across Shiite southern Iraq, and Basra, with its port and oil, is the biggest prize up for grabs when local elections take place this fall.

Sadr has said Maliki is trying to cripple him in advance of those elections to ensure SIIC controls Basra. Maliki has denied the accusation.

In Basra today, residents clearly were fearful of venturing too far from home, even though the Mahdi Army fighters who had ruled the streets for days had withdrawn. Schools and city offices were closed, and there was little vehicle or pedestrian movement. Fewer stores were open today than Monday, a reflection of people’s distrust in the situation.

tina.susman@latimes.com

A special correspondent in Basra contributed to this report.