BASRA, June 1: Police and soldiers set up checkpoints and searched cars in Iraq’s second city on Thursday in a first test of new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s ability to restore stability with an “iron fist” security crackdown.

A day after he declared a one-month state of emergency in key oil hub Basra, the tough-talking Shia leader said in Baghdad he planned to present his candidates for the interior and defence ministers to parliament on Sunday.

He named his cabinet on May 20 without the two key security posts after failing to reach a consensus deal among the main blocs — the Shia, minority Sunni Arabs, Kurds and secular parties — who form his national unity government.

“We have reached a semi-closed road so I will go to the parliament with names of the candidates,” said Maliki, who has vowed to rein in guerilla and sectarian violence.

Mr Maliki ordered the army onto Basra’s streets on Wednesday, vowing to use an “iron fist” to show Iraqis he means business about tackling insecurity.

Basra, 550km south of Baghdad, should be an early indication of whether he can back his words with action after previous Iraqi leaders failed to ease a raging Sunni insurgency and sectarian violence threatening vital oil exports.

Also on Thursday, a top U.S. commander ordered combat troops to be trained to abide by moral and ethical standards on the battlefield, an apparent response to allegations U.S. Marines killed civilians in a western Iraqi town last year.

In a case making waves in the United States, U.S. defence officials have said charges including murder may be brought against Marines following a U.S. investigation into the deaths of 24 civilian deaths in Haditha in November.

The training over the next 30 days in “core warrior values” would highlight “the importance of adhering to legal, moral and ethical standards on the battlefield,” a statement said.

Lt-Gen Peter W. Chiarelli said that of nearly 150,000 U.S.-led troops in the country “99.9 per cent of them perform their jobs magnificently” every day.

“Unfortunately, there are a few individuals who sometimes choose the wrong path,” he said in the statement.

It did not mention events in Haditha, which some commentators are comparing to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam that helped turn many Americans against that war.

In Basra some residents said security forces faced a complex network of gangs and assassins that includes Saddam Hussein loyalists and warring Shia militias who thrive in the bloody chaos of an oil city that provides much of Iraq’s income.—Reuters