Baghdad, Iraq – Iraq’s prime minister has told Shiite militiamen to surrender their arms or face an all-out assault by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces, senior Iraqi officials said Wednesday.
Under pressure from the U.S., Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to crack down on fighters controlled by his most powerful political ally, Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric, according to officials. Previously, al-Maliki had resisted the move.
“Prime Minister al-Maliki has told everyone that there will be no escape from attack,” said a senior Shiite legislator and close al-Maliki adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak for the prime minister. “The government has told the Sadrists: ‘If we want to build a state, we have no other choice but to attack armed groups.”‘
Al-Maliki on Saturday announced that his government would implement a new security plan for Baghdad, which consists of neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps by Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops.
In the past, the Iraqi government has tried to prevent American military operations against the al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, while giving U.S. forces a free hand against Sunni militants.
The Bush administration has pushed al-Maliki, who took office in May, to curb his militia allies or allow U.S. troops to do the job.
Although al-Maliki withdrew political protection from the Mahdi Army, there was no guarantee the Shiite fighters would be easily routed from the large and growing area of Baghdad under their control.
The militia has more fighters, weapons and sophistication today than it did in 2004, when it battled U.S. forces to a standstill in two strongholds, the Shiite holy city of Najaf and Sadr City, Baghdad’s sprawling Shiite slum.
Sunni militants, meanwhile, have put up fierce resistance in the five days since al-Maliki announced his new security initiative for Baghdad.
Iraqi and U.S. troops have battled Sunni insurgents along Haifa Street in central Baghdad in two major battles.
The neighborhood is only about 2 1/2 miles north of the Green Zone, site of the Iraqi government headquarters, the U.S. Embassy and base for thousands of U.S. soldiers.
Eighty suspected insurgents were killed in the fighting – 50 of them Tuesday alone, in an assault backed by U.S. troops, fighter jets and attack helicopters.
Police on Wednesday reported that at least 92 people had died violently or been found dead across the country.
In a single deadly attack, Sunni gunmen opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims home from the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia, according to police and Akeel al-Khazaali, the governor of the southern province of Karbala. At least 11 people were killed and 14 wounded.
The attack occurred about 75 miles west of the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
The U.S. military announced Wednesday that four more soldiers died of combat wounds in Iraq. A Task Force Lightning soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, died Tuesday from a gunshot wound sustained in the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
Two more soldiers died the same day in Iraq’s western Anbar province. One was assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, and one was assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
A 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) soldier was killed by a roadside bomb outside of Fallujah.
