Nearly 40 killed in Sadr attack on US and Iraqi forces

Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki: crackdown against Sadrists

IRAQ: AT LEAST 38 people were killed in Baghdad in fierce clashes on Sunday, the US military announced yesterday. Shia militiamen took advantage of cover afforded by a sandstorm to launch attacks on US and Iraqi troops and bombard the fortified Green Zone, where foreign embassies and Iraqi government offices are located.

Most of the fighting took place in Sadr City, the stronghold of the Mahdi army, loyal to dissident Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Some 440 militiamen and civilians have been killed in Sadr City since prime minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on militias at the end of March.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, is trying to secure a ceasefire. Mr Sadr's spokesman in Najaf, Salah al-Obeidi, said: "We are looking for assurances that the government will abide by an agreement."

A truce brokered last month by the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was violated by US and Iraqi forces soon after it came into force. At that time, Sadrists had countered the Iraqi army offensive and maintained their grip on the southern cities. However, intervention by US and British forces seems to have put them on the defensive.

Last week Mr Sadr ordered his men to abide by a ceasefire.

On Friday, Mr Maliki laid down conditions for an end to operations. He demanded the militia hand in weapons, halt interference in the affairs of the police, army and administration and surrender wanted men. The Sadrists rejected these conditions. However, they have received support from 50 Iraqi politicians who, along with a large number of civilians, staged a protest against the siege by US and Iraqi forces of Sadr City.

The politicians, who represented Shia, Kurd and Sunni parliamentary parties, pledged to co- operate with the Sadr movement to secure the evacuation of armed men from the district and called on the government to end the military onslaught, supply basic services and halt the blockade, which is causing serious hardship to Sadr City's two million inhabitants.

Iraqi military spokesman Brig Qassim al-Moussawic refused, however, to set a timetable for an end to the offensive. Although Tehran has announced its backing for Mr Maliki's campaign to crush the Sadrists, the US has recently accused Iran of providing Shia militiamen with weaponry.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times