Baghdad under curfew as Basra weapon deadline extended
Friday, 28 Mar 2008 17:57
Nouri al-Maliki is asserting his government's authority
Iraq In Focus
Turmoil in Iraq has dominated news headlines since Saddam Hussein's statue toppled in Baghdad nearly four years ago. Full Story
Iraqi authorities have imposed a three-day curfew on Baghdad and extended a deadline in Basra for weapons to be handed in as fighting between Shia factions continues.
Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is standing by his pledge to tackle the "gangs and criminals" he says have taken over Iraqi life but now says fighters have until April 8th to surrender their arms.
"All those who have heavy and intermediate weapons are to deliver them to security sites and they will be rewarded financially," a government statement said on Friday.
The Mahdi Army, the powerful militia controlled by Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, is requesting talks with Baghdad but these have been rebuffed, reports suggest.
Mortar and rocket fire in Baghdad's Sadr City area was reported earlier today, the latest manifestations of violence which is now into its fourth day across the unstable Middle Eastern country.
Parliament speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani told the Reuters news agency the Iraqi parliament would hold an emergency session to try and end the current fighting in Basra, Iraq's second city.
A key pipeline carrying Basra's oil exports was destroyed yesterday, cutting off a third of the city’s exports and 80 per cent of the government's revenue.
US crude oil prices rose by more than $1 upon the news being announced to around $107 a barrel.
But US president George Bush has extended to his support for Mr al-Maliki's hardline stance against those challenging his government's authority.
"Prime minister [Mr] al-Maliki's bold decision - and it was a bold decision - to go after the illegal groups in Basra shows his leadership, and his commitment to enforce the law in an even-handed manner," he said in a foreign policy speech in Dayton, Ohio.