Mar
31
Iraq: Basra Operations Wrapping Up
Posted in Top Stories, World
BAGHDAD (AP) — A key adviser to Iraq’s prime minister says military operations in the besieged southern city of Basra will finish before the end of this week.
Sami al-Askari says most of the Basra area is under control. A nearly weeklong government crackdown on a Shiite militia there sparked fierce battles in several southern cities and Baghdad.
Al-Askari, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was speaking a day after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his militia fighters to stand down.
Al-Maliki vowed to stay in Basra until the militia was crushed. But al-Askari said Monday the leader is expected to return soon to Baghdad, though he gave no exact date.
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