Maliki says Basra security plan objectives attained, pledges more in other cities

Britain delays troop pullout from Basra

Iraq receives remains of 64 Iraqis killed during Gulf war from Saudi Arabia

NATO hopes Afghan army soldiers reach 80,000 in 2010

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pledged more military operations against "outlaws," not ruling out the eruption of "other incidents" after the Basra battles between Iraqi government forces and Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias.

The Sadrists, or Iraqis loyal to cleric Sadr, had called for a "million" demonstration protesting the occupation on April 9, which coincides with the 5th anniversary of the fall of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Maliki, in a press conference in Baghdad, his first after returning from the oil-rich city of Basra, where he personally supervised the military operations against Sadr supporters, said there are no "negotiations or understandings with outlaws."

"That's why I don't rule out the possible outbreak of more incidents. However, we would welcome those incidents. Just like the Basra incidents gave us results, the other incidents would give us other results," he noted.

"There are other cities that should witness another Saulat al-Forsan (Knights' Assault). In Baghdad, the neighborhoods of al-Shoala and al-Amiriya as well as Sadr City have to be liberated."

Shoala, Amiriya and Sadr City are considered strongholds of the Mahdi Army militias.

"The next few days would see other saulats in cities where the local residents are still captives under the control of these gangs," said Maliki, calling on the Sadrists to "cleanse their ranks of outlaws." Maliki did not mention by name the Mahdi Army militias.

"We cannot remain silent about our people and families in Sadr City, Shoala and other areas ... while they are held hostage by gangs that control them. We must liberate these cities because we came (to office) to serve them," Maliki said.

He also announced the creation of 25,000 jobs in Basra and the spending of US $100 million to improve services in the city, Iraq's second largest.

Maliki took personal charge of the operation in Basra, but his security forces were met with strong resistance from Shiite militiamen there. The fighting also spread to Baghdad and a string of cities across central and southern Iraq. On Sunday, al-Sadr called his troops off the streets and demanded that the government halt the arrest of his followers and release those in detention without being charged.

"We did not make mistakes, but we had points of weakness," al-Maliki said of the performance of the security forces. "We discovered that we have a shortage of appropriate weapons for the fight in Basra which we will work quickly to end."

The Basra crackdown quickly spread to other Shiite regions of Iraq, including in the capital, and left at least 461 people killed and more than 1,100 wounded.

Maliki said his decision to go after the militants was appreciated by other senior Iraqi leaders such as President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barazani, the president of the autonomous Kurdish region in the north.

"Barazani called me when I was in Basra and said he appreciated our work and even offered to come himself or offer his forces as reinforcements to support our forces," Maliki said.

The assaults were also welcomed by U.S. President George W. Bush, who called the violence unleashed at the time a "defining moment" in new Iraq.

Since becoming premier in May 2006, Maliki has faced criticism for not taking on Shiite militiamen who have been accused of killing Sunni Arabs in the sectarian warfare that has engulfed Iraq.

On Thursday he also insisted that he did not sign any deal with any militant group to end the clashes that erupted after the Basra crackdown.

Last week's fighting receded after Sadr withdrew his fighters from the streets. However he demanded that the security forces stop random raids and arrests of people loyal to him. On Tuesday, Maliki ordered his forces to halt such arrests although Sadr followers continue to complain about detentions.

Sadr, meanwhile, called for a massive nationwide protest on April 9, the day of the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Five years ago on that day, U.S. Marines entered Baghdad and pulled down a giant statue of Saddam in central Firdoos Square -- a powerful symbol of the fall of the former regime.

Since then Sadr and his followers have been demanding an end to what they call a "tyrant occupation" by US-led forces in Iraq. On Thursday, a statement from Sadr's office in the central holy city of Najaf said all Iraqis, "Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Arabs, must express their rejection and raise their voice against the tyrant occupier" in protests on April 9. It urged the participation of "millions" of Iraqis.

"Express your rejection by participating in this demonstration. Carry Iraqi flags that show the unity of Iraq. Do not ignore this protest as it is for the glory of Islam and victory of the grieving Iraqi people," the statement read.

In 2004 Sadr launched two fierce rebellions from Najaf against the American military before joining the political process.

U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said improved security has contributed to an economic revival in Baghdad, and the United States has a "moral imperative" to keep bringing violence down.

In a likely preview of his report to Congress next week on the state of the war, Ryan Crocker told USA TODAY that the Iraqi military's recent attempt to disarm Shiite militias "had its share of problems."

He said the United States only had about 48 hours advance notice of the operation, which caused a wave of violence in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

However, Crocker said security and other areas have shown significant improvement since he last testified in September. "I think you can expect to see a continuation of that political and economic progress," he said.

Crocker will be joined before Congress by Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. President Bush has said he will decide whether to continue recent troop withdrawals based on their reports.

Cots lining embassy hallways outside Crocker's office were a reminder of recent bloodshed. Rockets have rattled the U.S. compound all week, killing two U.S. government employees. Embassy staffers have abandoned their tin-roofed trailers to sleep in more fortified offices.

Sadr thanked his followers on Tuesday for their "patience, obedience and defense of the lands and the people," urging more efforts to fight the "bigger enemy".

"Thanks are coming from Allah, not me, for the hardships you faced, and for your patience, obedience, cooperation and defense of your lands, people and honor," Sadr said in his hand-written statement.

"Blessed be the mujahideen (holy warriors) who made the occupiers as their enemies and the people as their friends," Sadr said, calling for mustering efforts to fight the "bigger enemy," in reference to the U.S. forces in Iraq.

Baghdad and other southern Iraqi cities, including Basra, were gripped by fierce clashes a week ago between government forces and Sadr's Mahdi Army militias, hours after Maliki declared Operation Saulat al-Forsan, which he said aimed at eliminating armed groups in the oil-rich port city.

Sadr had announced in a statement on Sunday that he would "disown anyone carrying arms and targeting government and service facilities or parties' offices," ordering his followers to end all armed activities in Basra and other provinces.

Sadr had asked the government in his statement to "stop random illegal detention raids and release all non-convicted detainees, particularly those belonging to the Sadrist bloc," also urging "cooperation with the government security agencies."

The Iraqi interior ministry had said on Monday that some 210 gunmen were killed, 600 others wounded and 155 captured since the beginning of Operation Saulat al-Forsan in the province of Basra last week.

Britain has announced the abandonment of a planned withdrawal of 1500 troops from Iraq amid a dramatic surge in violence in Basra.

Defense Secretary Des Browne announced that the Prime Minister's pledge, made last October, of bringing the troops home would not be fulfilled because the Iraqi Army required surveillance and logistical support to bring Shiite militias affiliated to Sadr under control.

He added, however, that even before last week's escalation in fighting, military assessments had concluded that Gordon Brown's pledge was untenable and that planned redeployments would have to be slowed down.

The Conservatives responded by accusing the Prime Minister of "playing party politics" with Iraq by making predictions last autumn that he could not keep, a claim fiercely denied by Browne.

"Before the events of the last week, the emerging military advice - based on our assessment of current conditions then - was that further reductions might not be possible at the rate envisaged in the October announcement, although it remains our clear direction of travel and our plan," the Defense Secretary told the Commons.

"In the light of the last week’s events, however, it is prudent that we pause any further reductions while the current situation is unfolding.

"It is absolutely right that military commanders review plans when conditions on the ground change, so at this stage we intend to keep our forces at their current levels of around 4,000 as we work with our coalition partners and with the Iraqis to assess future requirements. I would expect to be able to update the House on force levels later this month."

Today's announcement marks a setback for British troops in Iraq and the Prime Minister's strategy of slowly drawing them down after training their Iraqi replacements.

Last autumn, in a move which appeared to contradict the US "surge" strategy of introducing more troops to Iraq to quell unrest, the British military pulled its troops out of Basra palace to the airport on the outskirts of the city.

The soldiers stationed there now no longer play a direct role in Basra but instead provide logistical, air and surveillance support for the newly-trained Iraqi Army.

However, last Tuesday, Iraqi forces became embroiled in battles against the Shiite militiamen affiliated to the Mahdi Army, leading to concern that violence in Basra would escalate out of control.

Liam Fox, the Conservative Shadow Defense Secretary, claimed that the Prime Minister had been guilty of trying to boost popularity and playing politics in his October statement predicting withdrawals.

"I hope that the Government has now realized the need not to play party politics with troop numbers," he said. Of the soldiers serving in Iraq, he added: "They are willing to make the sacrifice, they just expect the truth."

Browne retorted that party politics had played no part in the Prime Minister's troop withdrawal pledge.

"Great care was taken in the information that was given to the house in October by the Prime Minister that that information and that plan reflected the latest military advice," he said. "There is no question of anyone using troop numbers for party-political purposes."

A UN refugee agency said that the number of internally displaced Iraqis rose to more than 2.77 million people by the end of March, some five years after the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

More than half of the displaced were uprooted after the Al-Askari shrine bombing in Samara in February 2006 which sparked a wave of ethnic violence across the country, UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told journalists.

The new report was produced by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and other UN agencies and NGOs.

Displacement was now continuing at a much lower rate, at least partly because communities were now much more homogenous, as many minorities targeted for persecution had sought refuge among their own kind.

Although there had been a small trickle of people returning to their original homes, only a few families have returned to areas under the control of another sect, it noted. "No members of minority groups (Christians, Sabaean-Mandaeans and Yazidis) have been reported to be among the returnees," the report said.

The IDPs' lot remains miserable with more than a million people in need of adequate shelter and food and more than 300,000 people without access to clean water.

Two million Iraqis have also fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria, where social and health services are struggling with the influx.

The UNHCR in January launched an appeal for 261 million dollars (167 million euros) to help all displaced Iraqis, but said Tuesday it had only received a third of this amount.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed at a NATO summit on Thursday that France will send a battalion of troops to the east of Afghanistan as part of efforts to bolster the alliance's peacekeeping force.

"I have decided to reinforce the French military presence with one battalion deployed in the east region," Sarkozy said, according to the text of a speech to be delivered at the summit in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

Romanian President Traian Basescu said the military intervention in Afghanistan is not enough and will not lead to the result expected by NATO states.

Basescu, on Wednesday at the end of the meeting with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, said that he has drawn the conclusion from the talks with his Afghan counterpart.

The president said NATO members, other international institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and other international donors should get involved in Afghanistan, so that a plan for the country's economic and institutional development be conceived, in parallel with anti-Taliban missions and the fight of terrorists.

Basescu voiced hopes that the NATO Summit in Bucharest is capable to shape a firm vision on Afghanistan, encompassing the military, social and institutional dimension, because otherwise NATO's success in this country would be uncertain.