Word: basra
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...Maliki has also extended his deadline for Basra fighters to lay down their arms by ten days. Originally the deadline was set to expire today. But Iraqi media sources say Mahdi Army fighters are holding large swaths of the city and the battle appears far from over...
...media liaison for Iraqi forces in Basra, Colonel Abbas Ahmed, told TIME that Iraqi forces control about 75% of the city and that they have captured "many fighters from the Mahdi Army [Sadr's militia]." Coalition forces are currently providing air and logistical support to Iraqi forces in Basra, but whether or not Iraq would request more substantial ground support in the coming days "would depend on the situation," he confirmed...
...Colonel Abbas Ahmed also said that armed fighters had blown up part of an oil pipeline in Basra province on Thursday. Reports from wire sources indicate the attack has seriously disrupted the flow of oil for the first time since 2004, and could lead to a cut in a third of oil exports from Iraq's southern port...
Despite having been initiated by the Iraqi government, the offensive by Iraqi security forces against militiamen in Basra is increasingly drawing in the United States, both militarily and politically. U.S. air power was used in the key port city for the first time on Thursday night in support of Iraqi forces trying to dislodge fighters of Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army, and U.S. troops clashed with Mahdi Army militants in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Friday. President Bush, speaking in Washington, called the fight a "defining moment" for Iraq, but the clashes could have important implications...
...There has been Coalition air presence for four days," said Maj. Tom Holloway, a spokesman for the British military in Basra. He said that the request for air support had come from the Iraqi military, relayed through American and British liaison officers at the scene, and approved by U.S. military officials...