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Iraqi Says Final Battle For Basra Near
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| Contributor | kal |
| Last Edited | kal Mar 21, 2008 07:09am |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Friday, March 21, 2008 01:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Gen. Mohan al-Furayji, the Iraqi commander in charge of security in the south of Iraq, has warned his troops they must prepare for the final battle to defeat the Shia militias terrorising Basra.
For the British force based at Basra airport, the general's strategy raises the spectre of a return to the city they left last September after a summer of incessant attacks by the gunmen.
Mohan is determined that the armed Shia groups have to be defeated before the provincial elections in the autumn. Failure to do so, he maintains, will mean the gunmen will take over what is left of the degenerating political process, making it impossible to shift them in the near future. No date has been fixed for the drive against the militias in Basra, he said yesterday. But he also delivered an uncompromising warning to his troops: they must be ready for a decisive military push, and it will come soon.
Two militias, the Mehdi Army, led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Badr Brigade used to dominate Basra. There are now, however, more than a dozen groups seeking the rich pickings of the region. The Mehdi Army has split into factions, with one group rejecting the current ceasefire called by the cleric.
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