Word: iraqi
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...cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today called for an end to the fighting between his followers and Iraqi forces in the escalating conflict that has engulfed the southern city of Basra. In a statement issued from his headquarters in Najaf, al-Sadr demanded, in return, that the government give his supporters amnesty and release any followers that are being held...
...statement was the first hopeful sign of a possible end to the conflict that the Iraqi and American governments originally billed as a battle against criminal gangs in Basra, but that escalated into a full-fledged fight with the Mahdi Army, Iraq's largest militia. On Saturday the Iraqi government, the Mahdi Army and U.S. forces all escalated the fight, and the militia's seven-month-old cease-fire seemed on the brink of total collapse...
...Minister Nouri al Maliki that the three-day deadline he had originally given militia fighters to surrender their weapons had now been extended to 10 days (and that those who complied would be financially rewarded), the U.S. air strikes appear to indicate that the fighting has been tougher than Iraqi government officials had anticipated. And while they insist that the offensive is aimed only at "rogue elements" of the Madhi Army and other militias, the Sadr movement is treating it as a politicized attack by their Shi'ite rivals in the government aimed at weakening their position ahead of October...
...United States, which had earlier emphasized that the offensive was the Iraqi government's initiative and responsibility, has now increased its political and military commitment to the operation's success. The longer the fighting in the south drags on, the greater the chance of an escalation in militia violence across the south and in Baghdad's Shi'ite neighborhoods - an escalation that could jeopardize many of the security gains made in the course of the U.S. troop surge...
...Friday, in what has become a daily occurrence, rockets or mortars slammed into the Green Zone, the heavily fortified central Baghdad sector that houses U.S. diplomats and the Iraqi government. One of the attacks hit the compound of the Sunni politician Tariq al-Hashimi, one of Iraq's vice presidents. The New York Times reported that one of his security guards had been killed. U.S. Embassy staff have been instructed to limit the time they spend outdoors and to wear helmets, flak vests and eye protection when they leave hardened structures...