March 29, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

BASRA, March 28: Jets of the US-led coalition bombed positions of the Mahdi Army in the southern city of Basra as prime minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday offered cash to local residents to give up their arms.

Almost 180 people have been killed in clashes since Tuesday and new firefights broke out in Baghdad’s Sadr City and Kadhimiyah, strongholds of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s militia which Iraqi forces are battling in Basra and other regions.

Security and medical officials also reported fierce fighting in and around the southern city of Nasiriyah.

US President George W. Bush called the violence a “defining moment” for Iraq and a key test for Maliki’s government.

American-led coalition forces entered the fray for the first time since the Iraqi army launched its crackdown on fighters in Basra, by bombing the militia’s positions in the city, a British military spokesman said. Two bombing missions were carried out overnight against specific targets, Maj Tom Holloway told AFP.

“Coalition forces are providing capability in those niche areas that the Iraqi armed forces don’t have,” he said. “Particularly we are providing them air power over the top of the city. The Iraqi air force does exist but doesn’t yet have fast jets.

“We are also providing surveillance. And also they have been providing air support in terms of dropping munitions on identified militia targets in the city.”

Maliki has vowed to pursue the crackdown against Mahdi Army gunmen despite stiff resistance, protests from sympathisers and mounting casualties.

Bush said there had been progress in Iraq but “it’s still a dangerous, fragile situation,” adding that future troop deployment would be based on ensuring that Washington had “enough of a presence” to achieve success.

The crackdown focusing on areas controlled by Sadr’s Mahdi Army has severely strained a “freeze” of the militia’s activities that the radical cleric ordered last August.Maliki gave Basra residents until April 8 to surrender heavy and medium weapons used against Iraqi soldiers in a bid to cut the supply of weapons to the militants.

The prime minister’s move was part of a three-pronged effort to break Shia resistance, along with the imposition of a three-day curfew in Baghdad and precision bombing by the US-led coalition.

Basra has become the theatre for a turf war between the Mahdi Army and two rival Shia factions — the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party.

In Baghdad most of the main roads were deserted as residents observed the curfew, set to stay in place until dawn on Sunday, while parliament held an emergency session attended by just 54 of its 275 MPs.

“All those who have heavy and medium arms, they should surrender them to the security forces and receive money starting from March 28 until April 8,” Maliki told Basra residents in a statement issued by his Baghdad office.

Maliki’s adviser Sadeq al-Rikabi said the offer was for all those who had weapons in their homes and aimed to “take the arms away.”

On Wednesday Maliki had announced a deadline of 72 hours for gunmen to surrender their weapons.—AFP