No stopping till Sadr City secure, says Iraq
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi forces will battle militiamen in Sadr City relentlessly until the sprawling Shiite district of east Baghdad has been cleared of gunmen, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh vowed on Sunday.
"We will continue until we secure Sadr City. We will not come out, we will not give up until the people of Sadr City have a normal life," Dabbagh told AFP.
"(The security forces) will do what they have to do to secure the area. I can't tell you how many days or how many months but they will not come out until they have secured Sadr City."
Raging battles between US and Iraqi forces and Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have killed around 80 people in the impoverished township since Sunday last week, and the army has warned the streets are littered with booby-traps laid by gunmen.
The township is still under partial curfew and residents reported sporadic gunfire on Sunday, although the heavy battles of the past few days have eased.
Dabbagh told a news conference that the security forces were not specifically targeting the Mahdi Army in its nationwide crackdown on militiamen, which began in the southern port city of Basra on March 25.
"The government doesn't send its forces after any political bloc," he said. "Anyone who is carrying a weapon illegally will be prosecuted. It is not dependent on their political persuasion, whether they be in the Sadrist trend or any other bloc."
US military spokesman Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll told the joint news conference that those being targeted are "individuals who illegally carry weapons and launch attacks on law-abiding citizens and security forces."
Driscoll said that operations against "illegally armed gangs, extortion groups and other criminals" are continuing in Basra.
"Although there is still much work to be done, Basra is beginning to return to normal life," he said.
"To date, the Iraqi security forces have arrested over 430 criminals, including 28 death row convicts who had been at large in Basra before the operations began."
US air strikes in east Baghdad killed two people and set homes ablaze, wounding three civilians, the US military said on Sunday.
Two American soldiers were also wounded in Saturday's air strike, which targeted a group of people planting roadside bombs in the mainly Shiite neighbourhood of New Baghdad, a US military statement said.
Residents of Sadr City reported a lull in the fighting on Sunday, with no major overnight clashes and only sporadic gunfire after dawn.
The US military statement said aircraft fired a Hellfire missile at "criminals" planting a roadside bomb in New Baghdad on Saturday, killing two people and destroying the device.
"The Aerial Weapons Team engaged the remaining criminals with a second Hellfire missile. The second missile overshot its intended target and struck a coalition forces vehicle, starting it and nearby houses on fire," it said.
Three civilians and two soldiers were wounded, the statement added.
"(The) events are unfortunate and our apologies go out to those innocent civilians who were affected," said US military spokesman Colonel Bill Buckner.
On Saturday the Iraqi army warned residents that the streets of Sadr City are littered with roadside bombs planted by militiamen to impede US and Iraqi forces.
Tensions between the Mahdi Army and the security forces have been further inflamed by the killing of senior Sadr aide Riyad al-Nuri on Friday in an attack carried out in broad daylight after the main weekly Muslim prayers in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Sadr's movement has accused US forces of being behind the killing, and the cleric lashed out at Robert Gates late on Saturday, saying the American defence secretary will always remain his enemy because he is the occupier of Iraq.
Sadr also urged his fighters not to target Iraqis "as long as they don't help the occupier."
