British troops target militants in Basra
British forces stepped up pressure on Shiite militants in the southern city of Basra, killing three in an overnight operation, the US and British military said today.
The raid came two days after anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr emerged from hiding with a call for Sunnis and Shiites to band together to force foreign troops out of Iraq.
Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia has repeatedly battled with US and British troops in the streets of Sadr City and Basra.
On Friday, just hours after Sadr delivered a sermon in the holy Shiite city of Kufa, British and Iraqi troops killed the Mahdi Army commander in Basra in a gunfight.
Militants responded with attacks on British troops and Iraqi forces there.
The attacks continued late last night and early today when British camps in the city were shelled repeatedly, British troops said in a statement.
The British, meanwhile, carried out an arrest raid early today when their forces were attacked with roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, the British said. The troops returned fire, killing three of their attackers.
No British forces were injured. The troops also arrested four militants.
Meanwhile, in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned this morning and handed over their weapons.
They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi Army militants, police said.
In Sadr City, US and Iraqi forces carried out several raids targeting insurgent cells, arresting one suspect believed to be involved in smuggling Iran high-powered, armour piercing bombs from Iran that have been used against US armoured vehicles, the US military said.
The cell has also sent Iraqi militants to Iran for training, the military said.
During another raid in Sadr City, troops shot an approaching vehicle that ignored their signals to stop, the military said.
No one was injured in the shooting, but the vehicle was set ablaze, the military said.
AP Television News footage showed several cars burned and destroyed in the street, including a van that was scorched black, had its windows knocked out and its upholstery incinerated. The footage also showed a house that appeared to have been ransacked.
The new raids came a day before Iranian and US diplomats were to hold rare talks in Baghdad over how to end the violence in Iraq.
US officials accuse Shiite-ruled Iran of training, financing and arming militants here, in a bid to fan sectarian tensions. Iran denies that and blames the presence of US forces here for the violence.
Earlier today gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing one person and injuring eight others, police said.
Later, the same gunmen ambushed a minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six passengers, police said.
The US military last night reported the deaths of eight US troops, bringing the number of soldiers killed so far this month to at least 100 and putting May on pace to become the deadliest month for US troops here in more than two and a half years.
