21 October 2006

Iraq's premier sent an envoy to the southern city of Amara Friday after clashes between Shiite militias and police in areas US and British forces handed over to Iraqi control months ago.

National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waeli told Reuters by telephone on his way to Amara that the situation was "serious," but he denied reports the city was totally under control of the Mehdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

A spokesman for the British military, which handed over responsibility for the city to Iraqi forces two months ago, said the situation remained volatile.

The Mehdi Army seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.

Mehdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations in the morning, planting explosives that flattened the buildings, residents said.

About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were patrolling city streets in commandeered police vehicles, eyewitnesses said. Other fighters had set up roadblocks on routes into the city and trucks fitted with loudspeakers circulated telling residents to stay indoors.

The militiamen later withdrew from their positions and lifted their siege of police headquarters under a temporary truce negotiated with a Sadr envoy. It wasn't clear on Friday afternoon whether security forces had reasserted control over the city.

Sadr's envoy, whose identity remains unknown, was due to meet with Maysan Province governor Adil Mudher, local Mehdi Army commander Fadil al-Bahadli, and Sadr's representative in Amarah, Mohammad al-Moussawi.

The Iraqi Army dispatched two companies to Amarah from Basra, the south's largest city, said a British officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make press statements, adding that Iraqi Army and police forces were massing to retake the city of 750,000.

Authorities imposed a curfew in Amarah Friday morning until further notice, the Defense Ministry spokesman said.

"All the parties have started a truce as two army companies were dispatched from Basra," Mohammad al-Alaskari said." But the situation is still tense."

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki dispatched an emergency security delegation that included the Minister of State for Security Affairs and top officials from the Interior and Defense ministries, said Yassin Majid, the prime minister's media adviser said. Sadr representatives had rushed Amarah from the holy city of Najaf to the north.

Karim Khalaf, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said Iraqi security forces had reached the outskirts of the city.

At least 15 people, including five militiamen, one policeman and two bystanders, had been killed in clashes since Friday, sad Dr. Zamil Shia, director of Amarah's health department.

The fighting also wounded at least 59 people - 31 militiamen, six policemen and 22 civilians, including 3 children - according to Riyadh Saed, the duty physician at the city's main hospital.

Fighting broke out Thursday after Qassim al-Tamimi, the provincial head of police intelligence and a leading member of the rival Shiite Badr Brigade militia, was killed by a roadside bomb. In retaliation, his family kidnapped the teenage brother of the Mehdi Army commander in Amarah, Sheik Fadel al-Bahadli, to demand the handover of Tamimi's killers.

The showdown between the Mehdi and Badr militias has the potential to develop into an all-out conflict between the heavily armed groups and their political sponsors, both with large blocs in parliament and backers of Maliki's ruling coalition. It also could shatter the unity of Iraq's majority Shiites at a time when an enduring Sunni insurgency shows no signs of abating.

Badr and the Mehdi Army have struggled for years for control in the south, Sadr's political bloc, the so-called "Sadrists," and the Badr's backers, the SCIRI, both being members of Maliki's ruling coalition. - Agencies