Basra Iraq

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki visited the southern port of Basra on Monday in preparation for a new security crackdown in the troubled Shiite Muslim city. Tensions were also apparent in Baghdad, where followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr protested their treatment by Iraqi security forces. The new Basra security offensive, including a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, was announced in a statement from Maliki read on state television late Monday by Maj. Gen.

Tensions between Iraq's major Shiite Muslim factions erupted into violence Tuesday as Iraqi security forces launched a major crackdown against militiamen in the southern oil hub of Basra. The fighting, which Iraqi officials said killed at least 35 people and injured 100, was the most serious sign yet that a cease-fire credited with helping improve security nationwide may be unraveling as groups within the Shiite Muslim majority jockey for position ahead of provincial elections in October.

Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr on Saturday rejected Iraqi government orders for his supporters to disarm, and a round-the-clock curfew in the capital was extended indefinitely as the bloody standoff between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces showed no signs of abating. Militiamen on rooftops battled Iraqi soldiers and U.S. special forces in the southern city of Basra, where at least 22 "criminal fighters" were killed Saturday, the U.S. military said.

The biggest surprise about the raging battles that erupted last week in southern Iraq was not that the combatants were fellow Shiites, but that it took this long. Enmity has long festered between the two sides: one a ruling party that has struggled against the widespread perception that it gained power on the back of the U.S. occupation, the other a populist movement that has positioned itself as a critic of the U.S.-backed new order.

The corniche buzzes at night: drivers honking to friends on the sidewalk, teenagers joy-riding rickety motorboats along the murky Shatt al Arab, families lining up for rides on the yellow-lit Ferris wheel. Mazen Abdul Kareem gazes at the water, remembering when the gunmen trawled the boardwalk in their tinted-window Toyotas. Even then, he would come, just looking out where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers merge and flow into the Persian Gulf, wondering whether his time was near.

Eight months after he sent in troops to restore calm to blighted Basra, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is skirmishing with rivals here ahead of elections that will test whether he can convert his military successes into a lasting political victory. The stakes are high: The winner in the provincial elections, scheduled for Jan. 31, gains control of the country's major oil-producing center and port, its economic lifeline to the world.

A U.S. civilian contractor and two Iraqi interpreters were kidnapped Friday near the southern city of Basra, Iraqi police officials said. Police Col. Kareem Azaidi in Basra said witnesses saw gunmen in a civilian car, a pickup and two police vehicles cut off the captives' car and take them hostage. U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor declined to identify the victims. "We're aware of reports that an American citizen was kidnapped," he said. "And we're looking into them."

If it weren't for the alcohol-free drinks, the scene could have been straight out of an English pub. Young men sat in animated groups, sipping milkshakes and mugs of milky tea in a cozy, wood-paneled room. Others tucked into heaping plates of fish and chips. The TV was tuned to a soccer match, a game of pool was underway, and pop music pulsed in the background. Until a crashing explosion sent everyone diving to the floor.

British troops on Wednesday handed over their last base in the southern city of Basra, withdrawing to an airport outside the city and leaving it to Shiite Muslim political parties and militias, whose power struggles have often spilled over into violence. The British troops are hoping their exit from Iraq's second-largest city will let Iraqi authorities take charge and resolve simmering conflicts.

Saying that Iraqi forces are now capable of dealing with the violence that persists in the south, Britain's defense secretary said Wednesday that his government intended to hand over security for the area by mid-December. Defense Secretary Des Browne acknowledged that sectarian power struggles and gangsterism continue in oil-rich Basra province, but said Iraqi forces were best able to address them now.