Word: basra
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...This is a warning to security and government forces who follow the occupier and its collaborators," he said. "We present this statement to the government to hurry their withdrawal from Basra, or else our response will be tough, and we have selected specific targets...
...difficult to separate real plans from bluster, but militants opposed to the government's Basra operation already struck a high-profile blow in Baghdad. Tahsin al-Sheikhli, the government's spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, was kidnapped from his home on Thursday. The al-Sharqia television station on Saturday aired an audio tape in which Sheikhli said that his fate depended on the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Basra and the opening of negotiations with Sadr's movement...
...Mahdi Army stiffened its military and rhetorical resistance, Maliki upped the ante as well. Saturday, during a televised meeting with tribal leaders in Basra, he accused enemy fighters in Basra of being "worse than al-Qaeda." It was an inflammatory and ironic statement, since the militia, in addition to its attacks on Sunni civilians and its criminal activities, has often defended Shi'ites from Sunni terrorists when the government proved powerless...
...heated rhetoric was matched by escalating military activity by American and British forces. Maj. Tom Holloway, spokesman for British troops in Basra, told TIME that American planes dropped two precision-guided bombs on a target in the city on Saturday afternoon...
...requested by Iraqi ground troops that were being attacked by that position," he said. He said that the Americans have carried out four air strikes overall since the offensive began. He also said that, at the request of Iraqi forces, British artillery fired on the al-Halaf district of Basra on Saturday...