U.S. forces drawn deeper into faceoff with militias

BAGHDAD — As U.S. forces plunged deeper into the bloody showdown between Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday extended a deadline for fighters to disarm after nobody responded to his first one.

Al-Maliki softened his demand, offering cash to anyone who turns in medium to heavy weapons in the next 10 days. Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft struck two targets in Basra, according to a British military spokesman.

The U.S. military said a Navy fixed-wing aircraft had fired on a mortar crew, killing three.

U.S. ground forces also clashed with militants in New Baghdad, Kadhemiya and Sadr City, all Mahdi Army militia strongholds in the Iraqi capital. Airstrikes also were conducted in Kadhemiya and Sadr City, as well as in Adhamiyah, a mostly Sunni neighborhood, residents said.

Mortar rounds, apparently fired by militiamen from Sadr City, continued to rain down on the heavily fortified Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters are housed.

At least 231 people, including some gunmen and security officers, have been killed and hundreds injured so far in the clashes in Basra, neighboring provinces and Baghdad.

The developments do not bode well for al-Maliki or U.S. military leaders, who had hoped the offensive would show that Iraqi security forces can handle major operations without outside help. They also come at a delicate time for the United States, which plans to complete the pullout of 28,500 troops from Iraq by the end of July.

The British military had been in control of Basra until December, when it handed the job to Iraq. Britain has about 4,500 troops in a base on the outskirts of Basra and plans to reduce that number to 2,500 by June. If the situation spins out of control, the United States could face pressure to send some of its own forces south. That would thin their presence elsewhere and could affect U.S. withdrawal plans.

In Washington, President Bush praised al-Maliki's courage in attempting to quash "criminal elements" in the Shiite militias, and he declared the offensive to be a "defining moment in the history of a free Iraq."

But some U.S. military officials privately worried that the Iraqi government had underestimated the resolve of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias.

A U.S. military official in Baghdad said the United States had little to no involvement in planning the Basra operation, which began some 10 days after Vice President Dick Cheney met with al-Maliki in Baghdad.

"The operations are Iraqi-conceived, Iraqi-planned and Iraqi-led," said the official. "Coalition forces were not involved in their planning or decision to go, but are providing advisers, logistics and air-weapons teams. Additional quick-reaction forces are on standby if needed."

The fighting receded somewhat in Basra, but there was no sign of the Mahdi Army being forced from its strongholds.

The death toll in Basra rose to 120, with more than 300 injured by Thursday afternoon, health officials said. Iraqi police reported that one airstrike in Sadr City killed at least 12 and injured 60. The U.S. military couldn't confirm this death toll. Another 78 people had been killed since Tuesday, the al-Sadr office in Sadr City said.

The militia captured two patrol cars from the police in Baghdad, and Iraqi television showed a video of Mahdi Army militiamen dancing on top of an Iraqi Humvee in Basra. Late Thursday, Mahdi fighters shot down an Iraqi army helicopter in northern Basra, eyewitnesses said.

Politically, al-Maliki seems to have taken an enormous risk by attacking Shiite militias in oil-rich Basra. He remained at the presidential palace in Basra directing the offensive, and continued to reject al-Sadr's demands to leave the city.

"The prime minister is not getting direction from people outside of the country," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to al-Maliki, referring to al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran studying religion. "The prime minister is the person who decides his responsibility and where to go."

But Sadrists were furious at an operation they said was attempting to destroy their movement before provincial elections in the south. A provincial-powers law passed the presidency council just days before the operation in Basra began.

A key element of the Iraqi security forces was the Badr Organization, the military wing of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which is the chief rival to the Sadrists among Shiites in southern Iraq.

Residents in downtown Basra said security forces finally entered the Jumhuriyah neighborhood as militias moved to al-Hayaniyah, also known as al-Hussein, a populous Shiite slum controlled by the Mahdi Army.

In Timimiyah, a Mahdi Army stronghold in the center of the city, Iraqi security forces with loudspeakers told residents to evacuate.

People still worried about running out of food, water and medicine in the port city.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military said it had come under multiple attacks from militants over the past two days in Mahdi Army-dominated areas on the east bank of the Tigris River. Militants tried to overrun a combat outpost in New Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi forces are housed, with mortar fire, gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Air-weapons teams were called in to back up Iraqi forces, and dismounted patrols came under heavy attack from militants. In Kadhemiya, U.S. troops were fired on at a checkpoint, and helicopters were deployed and killed three militants. Within 30 minutes, insurgents mounted a heavier attack, and airstrikes killed 10 more militants, the U.S. military said.

Information from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.