Basra crackdown 'a success'
2008-04-01 21:03
Baghdad - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that a crackdown on Shi'ite militiamen in Basra was a success and that 10 000 extra troops would be recruited to keep order in the southern oil hub.
His statement came as officials said the toll from a military assault the premier ordered on Shi'ite militias a week ago had helped propel the March tally of Iraqis killed to 1 082, the highest monthly total since August.
Figures obtained by AFP from the interior, defence and health ministries showed that 925 civilians, 54 soldiers and 103 policemen were killed - up 50% on February's figure of 721.
Of the Iraqis killed, around 460 were casualties of a week of bitter fighting between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr which began in Basra but quickly spread to other Shi'ite areas of central and southern Iraq and to Baghdad.
Maliki said he had decided to implement a seven-point programme in Basra following "the stability and success of the security plan which achieved the aim of imposing law in the city and restoring normalcy".
The new plan includes boosting security forces in Basra by recruiting 10 000 new troops, restoring services, imposing a strict check on vehicles without licences and building new houses for the poor.
Basra has emerged as a major turf for intense infighting between Shi'ite factions of Sadr and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council of powerful politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the lesser known Fadhila Party.
Earlier Tuesday, Maliki had ordered security forces to stop raiding and arresting Shi'ite militiamen randomly but said they should "deal strongly with any groups carrying arms in public".
Sadr leaders have accused the security forces of continuing to arrest Mahdi Army members in Basra and other Shi'ite areas.
Harith al-Athari, chief of Sadr's office in Basra, said the militiamen were being "exposed to random arrests and raids, houses of the members were being burned. This is in violation of what has been agreed upon".
Sadr hailed the Mahdi Army for resisting the Iraqi security forces during the fighting.
"I greet you and thank you for facing the difficulties, being patient, obedient, supportive of each other, defending your land, people and honour," Sadr said on Monday.
The special representative of the UN secretary general to Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday called upon Baghdad to coordinate with the international community to address the humanitarian crisis in Basra.
- SAPA