Iraqis line up at a bakery to buy bread in Basra. The clashes between rival political factions were concentrated in the city’s poor northern and central sections, which are under the control of the Mahdi Army. (Essam al-Sudani / AFP/Getty Images)
Supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr rally in Najaf. Sadr’s headquarters in the city issued a statement calling for nationwide sit-ins to protest the crackdown in Basra. (Qassem Zein / AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi police take defensive positions in Basra. (Nabil al-Jurani / Associated Press)
An Iraqi police commando takes his position in Basra. Heavy explosions and machine-gun fire rocked the city. (Essam al-Sudani / AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki leads a meeting with military officers in Basra, where he arrived on Monday to oversee the crackdown. (AFP/Getty Images)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, right, shakes the hand of a military officer in Basra. (AFP/Getty Images)
Smoke can be seen from the gun battles fought in Basra between Iraqi security forces and Sadr’s Mahdi Army. (Essam al-Sudani / AFP/Getty Images)
Shiite clerics participate in a rally in Najaf to protest the Iraqi security forces’ crackdown in Basra. (Qassem Zein / AFP/Getty Images)
