Fighting spreads in Shiite areas of Iraq

[nhboy (Premo)]

BASRA (AFP) - Iraqi security forces Thursday battled Shiite militiamen in the southern hub of Basra, where saboteurs blew up a key oil pipeline, as fierce fighting engulfed the Shiite city of Kut, police said.

At least 105 people have died in clashes since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on "lawless gangs" in Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.

The military operations have been mostly in areas controlled by the Mahdi Army fighters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, severely straining a "freeze" he ordered of the militia's activities last August.

In Baghdad, Sadr's followers poured on to the streets to stage noisy protests against the crackdown in Basra and demand the resignation of Maliki, who is personally overseeing the military operations.
Fierce fighting has engulfed the Shiite city of Kut
©AFP/Graphic

In Washington, US President George W. Bush called the fighting in Basra a "positive moment" for the development of Iraqi security forces and proof the Baghdad government could defend itself."

AFP.com | Agence France-Presse, a global news agency