US forces drawn deeper into Iraq crackdown (UPDATED)

The death toll rose above 130 after days of fighting in Baghdad where U.S. forces have been drawn deeper into an Iraqi government crackdown on militants loyal to al-Sadr, Reuters reported on Saturday.

At least 133 bodies and 647 wounded have been brought to five hospitals in the eastern half of Baghdad over the past five days of clashes U.S. air strikes, the head of the health directorate for eastern Baghdad, Ali Bustan, told Reuters.

In Basra, Mehdi Army fighters controlled the streets, manning checkpoints and openly brandishing rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers.

US jets bombed Shiite militants in the southern Iraqi port of Basra on Saturday afternoon as the death toll in the city from the five days of fighting touched 50, the British military said. At around 12:30 pm (0930 GMT) American jets dropped two bombs on militia strongholds in the Qarmat Ali neighbourhood of northern Basra, British military spokesman Major Tom Holloway told AFP. He said five days of fighting between Iraqi troops and Shiite militants have killed at least 50 people and injured 300.

U.S. forces have launched air strikes in Basra on Friday for the first time and battling militants in Baghdad in heavy clashes. Iraqi forces launched their offensive in Basra this week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was personally overseeing operations in the southern city against what government officials called "rogue" or "outlaw" militia elements, most loyal to al-Sadr.

The fighting has exposed a rift within the majority Shi'ite community and put pressure on al-Maliki, whose forces have failed to drive fighters loyal to al-Sadr off the streets.

Authorities shut down Baghdad with a strict curfew, but that did not halt rocket attacks and clashes in the capital. U.S. helicopters repeatedly fired into Baghdad's Sadr City slum and other Shi'ite areas where fighters are holed up.

FIGHTERS REJECT TO TURN IN WEAPONS
In Iraq's second-biggest city Basra where he launched the crackdown on Tuesday, Maliki extended a 72 hours deadline he had given militants to surrender, saying they had until April 8 to turn in their weapons for cash.

But Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters remained defiant. "We will fight on and never give up our weapons," Mehdi Army deputy military commander in Basra Abu Hassan al-Daraji told Reuters by telephone. "We will not turn over a single bullet."

Parliament called an emergency meeting, but just 54 members of the 275-seat body attended the session inside the fortified "Green Zone" government and diplomatic compound, which was bombarded by rockets as they gathered.

The government says it is fighting "outlaws", but Sadr's followers say political parties in Maliki's Shi'ite-led government are using military force to marginalize their rivals ahead of local elections due by October.

NOT GOING WELL FOR U.S.
The Iraqi military push into the southern city of Basra is not going as well as American officials had hoped, despite President Bush's high praise for the operation, several U.S. officials told CNN on Friday.

A closely held U.S. military intelligence analysis of the fighting in Basra shows that Iraqi security forces control less than a quarter of the city, according to officials in both the United States and Iraq, and Basra's police units are deeply infiltrated by members of Mehdi Army, CNN reported.

However U.S. President George W. Bush said the clashes were a sign that Maliki's government was willing to confront "criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law."

The clashes have all but wrecked a truce Sadr declared last year, which Washington had said helped curb violence. Sadr, who helped install Maliki in power after an election in 2005 but later broke with him, has called for talks. But Maliki has vowed to battle on with no negotiations.

President Jalal Talabani called for a summit of political party leaders to resolve the standoff. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, in Damascus to attend an Arab summit, said: "It was a long overdue confrontation in my view and the government has taken a decision to defeat them and it is irreversible."