Iraqi officials struck a local ceasefire deal with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia yesterday after clashes in the southern city left 12 dead.
Fighting erupted in Nasiriyah late on Tuesday after police arrested two members of the militia. By the time order was restored, two soldiers, nine civilians and the commander of the city's anti-terrorist unit were dead.
"Everyone now agrees only government forces should carry guns on the street. Mehdi Army fighters have withdrawn and security has been restored," said former governor Sheikh Sabri Al-Remaidh, who took part in peace talks.
As night fell yesterday a strict curfew was still in place in the city, but police were patrolling the streets unopposed.
One of those killed was Lieutenant Colonel Jawad Abdel Kadhim, who had headed the city's anti-terrorist police, police and medical sources said.
"The clashes have killed two Iraqi soldiers and nine civilians," in and around the city, said Hadi Badr, Nasiriyah's public health chief.
Badr said that 91 policemen, soldiers and civilians had been wounded.
He said two Mehdi Army fighters received treatment in the city's hospital, but that other wounded militiamen were taken elsewhere.
Security officials said the fighting broke out after local police arrested two militiamen accused of targeting US-led and Iraqi forces with makeshift bombs and mortars.
A delegation from the Mehdi Army, which commands widespread popularity among Shiites in Baghdad and across the south of the country, demanded the police release the two men, but were turned down, sparking the battle.
"They burned all the vehicles in front of one of the provincial government buildings in the center of the city, but the governor was in another building next to it," Iraqi police Colonel Rahim Ali said.
Police moved quickly to close off roads leading into and out of Nasiriyah and declared a city-wide curfew in a bid to quell the violence.
Nasiriyah is in Dhi Qar, a province that is now considered stable enough for Iraqi officials to take charge of security without US or British oversight.
Meanwhile, US aircraft dropped leaflets seeking information about three US soldiers feared captured by al-Qaeda, as troops intensified the search despite a warning from the terror group that the hunt will endanger the captives' lives.
The US command said the searchers were trying to isolate areas where they suspect the captives may have been taken after the pre-dawn ambush on Saturday in which four US troops and an Iraqi soldier were killed.
"The captors don't have freedom of movement," said Major Kenny Mintz of San Diego. "If they have the soldiers, they can't move them from where they are. We're doing a deliberate search of the areas."
On Monday, an al-Qaeda front group -- the Islamic State of Iraq -- warned the US in a Web statement to call off the hunt "if you want their safety."
The warning could indicate that the presence of about 4,000 US and Iraqi troops in the thinly populated farming area 30km south of Baghdad is making it difficult for the captors to move the Americans to a secure location.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US command said US soldiers have questioned more than 450 people and detained at least 11 since the search began last weekend.
Trucks with loudspeakers were also roaming the area urging local residents to come forward with any information.
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