09 May 2004	Sunday	18 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

BASRA, May 8: Iraqi militants and British troops fought running battles in Basra on Saturday as hundreds of Mehdi Army fighters took to the streets in a show of strength after suffering heavy losses from US forces elsewhere.

At least two Iraqis were killed and four soldiers wounded in rifle and rocket-propelled grenade attacks by fighters loyal to Shia leader Moqtada al Sadr, a British spokesman said. One man had also been arrested, he added.

"We will press on with our operation until they leave all Iraqi cities," one of Moqtada Sadr's militia commanders, Kassem Hassan, said. "We also demand the release of our prisoners."

But a British military spokesman described the fighting as the "posturing of a few lawless individuals" and said the troops were keeping a discreet distance, waiting for it to pass. They held talks with local leaders. By evening, the city was calmer.

Large bands had roamed otherwise empty streets, accompanying fighters brandishing grenade launchers and AK-47s.

Three men were killed and five soldiers hurt in Amara when British troops took over offices of Moqtada Sadr's movement there, witnesses said. Two US soldiers were killed and six Britons wounded by Sadr's men a week ago in Amara, north of Basra.

There were brief clashes around Moqtada Sadr's base in the holy city of Najaf.

SADR'S OFFICE SURROUNDED: In Baghdad, US forces kept up the pressure. Tanks backed by helicopters overhead briefly surrounded Moqtada Sadr's office in his stronghold of Sadr City and troops arrested four people working there, witnesses said.

The surge of violence to the south appeared partly a response to the crackdown on Sadr's movement by US forces closer to Baghdad over the past few days, although local people also said they were angered by mounting evidence of widespread abuse of Iraqi detainees by US, and possibly British, troops.

US President George W. Bush sought to minimize the scandal on Saturday as the "wrongdoing of a few". But despite apologies from Bush and his defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, few Iraqis are convinced.

Paul Bremer, the US administrator working to hand over power to a pro-American Iraqi government on June 30, said of the jailers: "They have done enormous damage to the way the Iraqi people look at American soldiers and the work they do."

KARBALA: Likewise, US troops clashed with the militia of firebrand Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr in Karbala on Saturday as tanks encircled the centre of the the shrine city, witnesses said.

"They are determined to destroy us," said the local leader of the Mehdi Army in Karbala, Sheikh Hamza Al-Taai.

"But they won't be able to, God willing. We will protect Karbala with our lives."

Taai claimed they battled US foot soldiers with grenades and gunfire, while thick black smoke was seen rising over the city.

The smoke appeared to be coming from near Sadr's office, an AFP correspondent said.

US troops, who have battled US forces in the area for days, were posted to the north, west and east of the city centre, said an official from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the main Shia party.

An explosion and sporadic gunfire was heard from close to the Al-Mokhayam mosque, next to the cleric's office. There was no immediate confirmation of the clashes from the US forces.

Eight members of Sadr's militia were killed in fighting here on Friday, and 14 were wounded.

Dozens of militiamen have been killed during a week of clashes in the Shia cities of Diwaniyah, Karbala, Kufa and Najaf, as the US-led coalition put the squeeze on Sadr's forces in an attempt to isolate him.

US tanks secured the office of the new governor in Najaf, Adnan Al-Zorfi, immediately after the announcement of his appointment on Thursday. The new governor made a brief visit to the city on Friday.-Reuters/AFP