IRAQ: IRAQI SECURITY forces fought Shia militia in Basra yesterday in an intense battle widely seen as a critical test of the Baghdad government's ability to control its own country, writes Richard Norton-Taylorand Julian Borgerin London.
The battle for Iraq's second city could have long-term repercussions for the continuing US occupation and the legacy left by five years of British military involvement in the south.
Fifteen thousand soldiers from the Iraqi national army led the crackdown under the personal supervision of the prime minister Nouri al-Maliki against the Mahdi army, followers of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. At least 25 people were killed, according to Iraqi officials.
The fighting also raised the spectre of a new bout of bloodletting across the Shia-dominated south and the multi-ethnic centre of the country, by unravelling a ceasefire declared by Mr al-Sadr last August. The Shia cleric issued a statement yesterday calling on Iraqis to stage nationwide sit-ins and threatened to declare "civil revolt" if attacks continued.
Iraqi officials said the situation in Basra had descended into anarchy since British troops withdrew to the Basra airport outside the city last September. Even as British military officials enthusiastically welcomed the Iraqi operation, the country's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, asked why no British troops were involved.
He questioned the value of basing more than 4,000 British troops at Basra airport if they did not take part in a major security operation 8km away.
British forces, Mr Zebari told The World at One on BBC Radio 4, "really have not been engaged directly in the situation".
"They have a responsibility to maintain security and stability," but added: "The militias have taken over the city. Law and order has collapsed, although it is not a hopeless case because the government is taking actions and measures to reverse the situation."
British officials said not a single British soldier was involved in the fighting in Basra. They went out of their way to insist that the operation was an entirely Iraqi one, carefully planned by Iraqi generals and the Baghdad government.
Three British aircraft provided aerial surveillance for the Iraqi forces, Maj Tom Holloway, a British military spokesman in Basra said. They had not dropped bombs because the Iraqi forces "haven't yet asked".
Despite Mr Zebari's comments, British officials insisted that Iraqi military commanders approved of the British military posture. "The important thing is the Iraqis don't want us in the city," a British army spokesman said last night. That has certainly been the view of Iraqi generals ever since British forces handed over to the Iraqis responsibility for security throughout Iraq's oil-rich Basra province.
British military officials reported that the streets of Basra were quiet after a curfew was imposed. In earlier clashes, in addition to those killed, police and hospital officials reported 88 wounded.
A 38-year-old witness, an employee in a state-run factory in the Hayanoiya area in Basra - the stronghold of the Mahdi army - told the Guardian that clashes erupted around 2am yesterday when Iraqi soldiers tried to enter the area.
"No Iraqi army units actually entered the area in my street. The whole street is mined. The Mahdi army fighters are talking about their other units capturing Iraqi army soldiers and armoured vehicles." Residents of one neighbourhood said Mahdi army snipers were firing from rooftops. Others fired rocket-propelled grenades at the troops, then drove away on motorcycles. - (Guardian service)