OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The military operation to rout militiamen aligned with the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from the southern city of Basra and the poor Shiite neighborhood of Iraq's capital intensified Saturday with new efforts to wrest control of those areas from Mahdi Army gunmen. The Iraqi government announced success in controlling a key neighborhood of Basra, Hayyania. Iraqi forces and militiamen had been at a standstill in Basra for almost four weeks after an initial government offensive stalled. But on Saturday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Iraqi forces had moved in with little resistance, and that Hayyania was calm by nightfall.
Iran's ambassador to Iraq on Saturday denounced U.S. military operations in Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, saying they had led to the deaths of innocent people and threatened to aggravate an already tense situation. The comments by Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi came after police and hospital officials reported that 12 people had died in overnight clashes in Sadr City. Qomi expressed support for the Iraqi-led Basra offensive, which was launched on March 25, but warned that "the insistence of the Americans to lay siege" on Sadr City has led to the killing of several innocent people and "is a mistake."
Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening a new uprising if a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown against his followers continues. The cleric says he is giving his final warning to Baghdad to stop working with the U.S. military against him or he will "declare an open war until liberation." Saturday's statement has been posted on Al-Sadr's website and is similar to several previous threats to lift the more than seven-month-old cease-fire.
NEWS SERVICES
