Sadr rejects order to disarm

BAGHDAD -- - Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr on Saturday rejected Iraqi government orders for his supporters to disarm, and a round-the-clock curfew in the capital was extended indefinitely as the bloody standoff between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces showed no signs of abating.

Militiamen on rooftops battled Iraqi soldiers and U.S. special forces in the southern city of Basra, where at least 22 "criminal fighters" were killed Saturday, the U.S. military said.

In an interview on Al Jazeera TV, Sadr said Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's U.S.-backed government was worse than the regime of Saddam Hussein, who is believed to have ordered the assassination of Sadr's father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr, in 1999.

Sadr did not renounce a cease-fire he called for his Mahdi Army militia in August, but he said anyone facing foreign occupation had the right to armed resistance.

U.S. warplanes conducted more airstrikes in Basra, where Maliki launched a military offensive against militia fighters Tuesday. Police and hospital reports have indicated that more than 100 people have been killed there.

Maliki and U.S. forces deny that the operation is aimed at Sadr and his supporters, but the cleric rejects that assertion and says his fighters have the right to defend themselves.

The effect has been a virtual collapse of the August truce, which had been credited with helping decrease the level of violence across Iraq and with reducing casualties among U.S. forces.

Three American soldiers have been killed in Baghdad in the last two days, including two whose patrol hit a roadside bomb Saturday in mainly Shiite east Baghdad. Their deaths bring to 4,007 the number of U.S. forces who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to icasualties.org.

In the interview, Sadr, whose whereabouts was not revealed, said his fighters' ultimate goal was to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq. "The majority of the Mahdi Army are under control. They are loyal, obedient and conscious believers," he said.

That was little comfort to Iraqis trapped in Mahdi Army strongholds. Many of them see no difference between Sadr's fighters and the so-called rogue elements said to have broken away from the group.

Whatever they want to call themselves, they are using residential neighborhoods to wage war and putting innocent people in danger, said Satar Mehassin, 37, a clothing store owner who lives in Baghdad's Sadr City district.

Mehassin said he had appealed to militiamen after they planted a bomb near his home. "I tried to talk to them to tell them not to do that, because my house may be destroyed and my children may be killed," he said in a telephone interview. "They answered, 'Get inside or we will kill you.' "

But a local Mahdi Army leader in Sadr City said by telephone that he was ordering his fighters not to join the battles against U.S. and Iraqi forces, because Sadr had not lifted his truce.

In Basra, where masked, heavily armed militiamen ruled most streets, residents remained afraid to venture out, even though a curfew was eased during the day. One said they risked being caught in cross-fire, or shot by Iraqi army snipers who could mistake them for militiamen or shot by gunmen guarding the areas they controlled.

Some residents said the Iraqi military presence appeared to have decreased as soldiers focused on specific areas, opening more streets to militiamen. But Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said that things were "going well and according to plan."

U.S. Army Maj. Brad Leighton said an AC-130 warplane fired on fighters on three rooftops Saturday after they attacked an Iraqi-U.S. team. Initial reports said 16 "criminal fighters" were killed, Leighton said in an e-mail response. A military statement said Iraqi forces had killed at least six additional militiamen.

On Thursday night, a Navy jet unleashed 20-millimeter cannon fire on what U.S. and British authorities said was a mortar-launching position. The United States said three militiamen were killed.

Some Basra residents said eight civilians, including five members of one family, were among the dead. The U.S. military said it was aware of the report but could not confirm it.

"I can say that coalition forces make every effort to engage only hostile threats," a military spokeswoman said in an e-mail response to questions about the incident.

Maliki last week set a three-day deadline for fighters to disarm. After no one turned in weapons to police, he extended the deadline until April 8 and offered monetary rewards in exchange for arms. Khalaf said some fighters had complied by Saturday, but he would not say how many, what weapons they turned in, or what they received in exchange.