March 27, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1429

BAGHDAD, March 26: The Iraqi prime minister on Wednesday gave militia battling Iraqi forces in Basra 72 hours to lay down their arms, as firefights across the country killed almost 50 people.

Nuri al-Maliki issued the ultimatum as Iraqi troops moved for a second straight day into neighbourhoods controlled by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern oil city.

Sadr’s powerful movement, responding to the Basra raids that the International Committee of the Red Cross said has killed at least 20 people and wounded 200, called protest rallies for Thursday “to express no confidence in the Maliki government”.

US military spokesman Maj-Gen Kevin Bergner told a news conference in Baghdad that 2,000 extra Iraqi security forces had been sent to Basra to take part in an operation aimed at quelling ‘lawless gangs’ that had taken over parts of the city.

The Basra assault, which began on Tuesday, is seen as straining the ceasefire Sadr ordered his fighters to observe since last August, which the US military says has played a significant role in helping reduce overall levels of violence.

Mr Maliki said he would allow time for those wanting to lay down their arms. “We are not going to chase those who hand over their weapons within 72 hours,” he said in a statement issued by the Basra Operational Command.

“If they do not surrender their arms, the law will follow its course.”

Clashes between militiamen, Iraqi and, in some cases, US troops have also been raging in other parts of Iraq, including in Sadr City, the sprawling bastion of Sadr that is home to two million people.

An Iraqi security official said 20 people were killed and 115 wounded in the Sadr City clashes.

Clashes also erupted in the city of Kut, 175km southeast of Baghdad, where seven people were killed, police said.

Sadr called for talks to end the crisis in Basra and demanded that Maliki leave the city, where he has been personally overseeing the crackdown.

“Sadr has asked Prime Minister Maliki to leave Basra and to send a parliamentary delegation to resolve the crisis in the city,” the head of the Sadr movement’s political bureau, Liwa Sumaysim said in Najaf.

Sumaysim said that the Sadrists had called for anti-Maliki protests in Baghdad and Amara, 365km south of the capital, on Thursday. When the raids began on Tuesday, the cleric had threatened to launch nationwide protests and a civil revolt if the attacks did not end.

Maj-Gen Bergner said that military assaults in Basra and Sadr City were not particularly targeting members of the militia. “The actions are not against (the Mahdi Army). It is the government of Iraq taking responsibility and acting to deal with criminals on the streets.”—AFP