Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday threatened a countrywide campaign of civil revolt as security forces battled his militiamen in the southern city of Basra.
Fighting raged in areas of Basra controlled by Sadr's Mehdi Army from early morning as troops and police launched a major crackdown on armed groups in the oil hub, considered the nerve center of Iraq's national economy.
At least four people were killed and 18 wounded in the clashes, police Major Abbas Youssef said.
Sadr, in a statement read by his representative Hazam al-Aaraji in the holy city of Najaf, said he would launch protests and a nationwide strike if attacks against members of his movement are not halted.
"If the government does not respect these demands, the second step will be general civil disobedience in Baghdad and the Iraqi provinces," the statement said.
The cleric in August ordered his militia to observe a ceasefire following bloody fighting in the shrine city of Karbala blamed on his fighters.
While Iraqi and US officials say most members of the militia have heeded the order, a number of what the US military terms "rogue elements" continue to attack US forces with mortars, rockets and roadside bombs.
British military officials said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in Basra to personally oversee the major security force sweep.
Fighting involving mortars, machine guns and assault weapons erupted soon after the security forces entered the Al-Tamiyah neighborhood, a bastion of Sadr's Mehdi Army, at about 5am. The fighting quickly spread to five other Mehdi Army neighborhoods.
Witnesses said the streets were empty aside from the security forces, emergency vehicles and people in cars fleeing the fighting. Shops and markets were closed.
In the wake of the fighting police also imposed curfews in three other southern Shiite cities -- Kut, Samawa and Nasiriyah -- as precautionary measures.
Liwa Sumaysim, head of Sadr's political bureau in Najaf, denounced the bloodletting.
"We do not want the situation as it is in Basra. We are against bloodshed, especially in this critical period of time," Sumaysim said. "The Sadr movement is being targeted in Basra, that is why this tension has been created. The Iraqi government forces should not use force against poor people."
After touring Basra on Monday, Maliki vowed his government would restore order, saying the city was experiencing a "brutal campaign" by internal and external groups targeting members of the scientific and religious communities "and other innocent men and women."
"This is accompanied by the smuggling of oil, weapons and drugs. The outlaws are finding support from within the state and outside. This is why Basra has become a city where civilians cannot even secure their lives and property," Maliki said in a statement.
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