Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq  

Policemen stand guard on a road in Basra March 25, 2008. Heavy fighting broke out between Iraqi security forces and the Mahdi Army Shiite militia in Basra on Tuesday, a local security source and witnesses said.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

   

    BASRA, Iraq, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Up to 30 people were killed and some 60 others wounded in the ongoing fierce clashes between Iraqi security forces and the Shiite Mahdi Army militia in the southern oil hub of Basra, medical and police sources said on Tuesday.

    "Two hospitals in the city have received 30 bodies, including three policemen," a medical source in the city told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    He said that the wounded people, many of whom were women and children, were transported to the city hospitals for treatment. Some of them were in critical condition, he added.

    On the ground, clashes continued during the night despite curfew measures in the neighborhoods of Hayyaniyah, Ashar, Jamhuriyah and Qiblah, a local security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, has been the scene of a fierce clashes between the Iraqi security forces and Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which have a strong presence in the Iraqi second largest city.

    Heavy fighting broke out between Iraqi security forces and the Mahdi Army Shiite militia earlier on Tuesday.

    Iraqi security forces launched a massive security operation against rival Shiite factions and gangs who brought disorder and instability in the city.

    A three-day curfew was imposed on the city starting from Tuesday, in addition to the closure of the Iraqi-Iranian border.

    The operation came a day after the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a visit to Basra to restore order in the city where instability was spreading.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]