http://news.yam.com/afp/international/200803/20080331005076.html
美軍巴格達陸空襲擊 擊斃四十一人
法新社╱陳昶佑 2008-03-31 21:50
（法新社巴格達三十一日電）美國軍方今天宣布，美軍在伊拉克首都巴格達發動空襲與軍事攻擊，擊斃四十一名「罪犯」，其中二十五人是在轟炸疑似迫擊砲部隊時喪命。
美軍昨天在巴格達東部與東北部擊斃這些人，而從二十五日以來，美軍和伊拉克部隊便在這些地方持續對抗效忠激進什葉派教士薩德的救世軍成員。
安全部隊與什葉派民兵在巴格達、南部巴斯拉以及其他什葉派地區鏖戰六天，死亡人數已超過三百二十人，其中巴格達最少有一百四十人喪生。
薩德昨天下令他的戰士離開街道，伊國政府則同意，只要民兵停止使用武器，當局不會繼續追捕這些參與戰鬥者。
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080331/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_080331141352;_ylt=Aii29JkVqUL.0t12zesfCQOaOrgF
Sadr fighters vanish from Iraq's streets
by Salam Faraj
53 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) - Gun-toting fighters of hardline Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Monday melted from the streets after days of fierce clashes with security forces as a curfew was lifted in Iraq's capital and eased in Basra.
Following six days of intense fighting with security forces, Sadr on Sunday pulled his fighters off the streets, signalling an end to the firefights which have killed more than 320 people across Iraq.
AFP correspondents in Baghdad and Basra said the militants had disappeared on Monday and the fighting which had rocked the two cities and several other Shiite regions since last Tuesday had died down.
According to Iraq's interior ministry, at least 215 people were killed in Basra during the clashes, while another 155 were wounded and 600 arrested in fighting that erupted after Iraqi forces launched a crackdown on Shiite militiamen in the southern port city.
In Baghdad, the Sadr movement confirmed fighters from the cleric's feared Mahdi Army militia were no longer deployed on the streets, including in their bastion of Sadr City in east Baghdad.
"The militants have disappeared from Sadr City and its neighbouring areas and my information is that Sadr's order is being implemented everywhere," the Baghdad spokesman for Sadr's movement, Salman al-Fraiji, told AFP.
Fraiji said US and Iraqi forces still continued on Monday to "randomly arrest and raid houses" in Sadr City and the cities of Diwaniyah, Karbala and Nasiriyah, south of Baghdad.
Iraqi commander Major General Abdul Aziz told a press conference that the security forces were arresting only those "criminals for whom we have warrants."
Haider al-Asadi, a fighter from the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, said all the militants were "now sitting in their homes".
"But we are ready, should the Americans come inside our district, to fight. We have enough IEDs (improvised explosive devices) for them. If they come, we will defend ourselves."
Asadi said the US troops were on the edge of the neighbourhood and had deployed snipers on the rooftops of houses.
Witnesses said pedestrians and vehicles were now back on the streets of Baghdad after the curfew was lifted in the capital, although a vehicle ban remained in force in Sadr City and two other Shiite areas, Kadhimiyah and Shuala.
"Life is getting back to normal in Sadr City," said Ahmed Suhail, a resident of the sprawling district of some two million Shiites. "Most shops are open and there are no militiamen in the streets."
The curfew in Basra was also eased on Monday but the authorities said it would remain in force at night.
An AFP correspondent in the southern port city said Iraqi troops were deployed in most parts of Basra and there were no reports of any new clashes overnight.
He said several shops were also open and people were queueing to buy household items. Offices, colleges and schools remained closed, however.
Sheikh Ali al-Saedi, a member of Sadr's office in Basra, confirmed the fighters were withdrawing from the city's streets.
"The Sadr office in Basra issued orders to all its fighters to withdraw from the streets of Basra, and to hide their arms as ordered by Sadr," he said.
General Aziz said that by Sunday security forces had managed to clear five areas of Basra which were known Mahdi Army strongholds -- Al-Najibiyah, Al-Makkal, Al-Ashhar, Al-Zubair and Qarmat Ali.
On Sunday, Sadr ordered his fighters off the streets while the government agreed not to pursue those involved in the fighting provided they stowed their weapons.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Monday that Sadr's declaration will "isolate the groups who are trying to abuse the reputation of Sadr".
"Those who do not withdraw from the streets, we will consider them outlaws and not from the group of Sadr," he told a joint news conference with Aziz, adding the crackdown in Basra will "continue till security is restored."
Before the clashes receded late Sunday, some brutal firefights broke out during the day as security forces clashed with Mahdi Army fighters.
The US military said its troops killed 41 "criminals" in Baghdad's eastern and northeastern areas, including 25 who died when a suspected mortar team was bombed.
The deaths pushed the toll from six days of fighting to more than 320, at least 140 of them in Baghdad.
The fighting in Shiite areas broke out on Tuesday as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his troops to attack Mahdi Army strongholds in Basra, the southern oil hub, which he said were infested by "lawless gunmen".
The fighting quickly spread to other Shiite areas and flared in particular in Sadr City.
Maliki, himself a Shiite who has been directing the assault from inside Basra, said he hoped Sadr's order would "contribute to the stability of the situation".
"It is a step in the right direction," he said.
A volley of rockets, meanwhile, smashed into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone on Monday causing at least five casualties, including two American soldiers and an Iraqi army major, a witness told AFP.
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