BAGHDAD — In a sign of growing rage against the Iraqi and U.S. governments, tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims marched Thursday in their Baghdad strongholds to protest a crackdown on Shiite militiamen that has led to more than 125 deaths.
The government announced a curfew in the capital until Sunday in an attempt to quell the violence that has spread to several cities since the offensive began Tuesday in the southern city of Basra.
Loyalists of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr rejected U.S. and Iraqi assertions that the Basra operation was aimed at rogue militiamen, instead insisting that it was targeting Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. A statement released late Thursday by Sadr's political office said the cleric remained committed to the cease-fire he imposed on his militia in August.
"Muqtada Sadr is calling on everyone to follow political solutions and peaceful protest, and not to spill Iraqi blood, to reach a solution to the current crisis," the statement said.
But a fourth day of ferocious rocket and mortar attacks in and around the U.S.-guarded Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and most Iraqi government offices, underscored the anger among Shiite fighters who believe the United States and Prime Minister Nouri Maliki are working to cripple Sadr's movement before local elections planned for this fall.
The U.S. military said the attacks were launched from Shiite areas of east Baghdad and that American forces had killed two "terrorists" suspected of involvement in the barrages. A U.S. civilian working with the embassy was among those killed Thursday when a rocket was fired into the Green Zone, in central Baghdad.
Thunderous booms rocked the capital throughout the day, and police and U.S. military reports indicated that as many as 18 mortar rounds had landed in the city.
The showdown has placed Iraqi and U.S. officials in an awkward position. Both have described the crackdown by Iraqi security forces as a sign of Maliki's determination to stabilize areas plagued by fighting between rival Shiite militias. But they also say Sadr's fighters are not the problem, despite his militia's role in such unrest. Mollifying Sadr is crucial to his continuing the cease-fire, which is credited with helping reduce violence nationwide.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker blamed the violence on a "subset" of the Mahdi Army.
