Muqtada Sadr

Everything about Muqtada Sadr's announcement Friday that he was renewing a six-month cease-fire by his Mahdi Army militia appeared choreographed to reinforce his ascent from rabble-rouser to respected Shiite Muslim cleric and political power-broker. Until the last minute, Sadr kept Iraq on tenterhooks about whether he would extend the truce, which has been credited with helping to reduce sectarian violence and attacks against U.S. forces.

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.

Mahdi Army militiamen brandished Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers at checkpoints in the Sadr City neighborhood Wednesday, a sight harking back to the days after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq when armed followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr regularly defended the streets. This time, though, they are flexing their muscle against the Shiite-led Iraqi government, rather than providing protection against Sunni Muslim extremists. The 2.

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.

In a stucco compound at the center of the Sadr City neighborhood here, a follower of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr gleefully handed out candies and toffees to visitors Monday. "Have a chocolate," the thin, bearded man said. "This is for our victory over [Prime Minister Nouri] Maliki."

Hard-line Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr threatened "open war" as Iraqi and U.S. forces battled his Mahdi Army militia in two key strongholds Saturday, raising the specter that a truce credited with reducing violence could soon end. The warning was the closest the cleric has come to canceling the truce he called in August, and it coincided with an Iranian denunciation of U.S. airstrikes in support of the Shiite-led government's military offensive.

Radical cleric Muqtada Sadr reminded his followers Friday to observe a truce that has been nearing collapse, pulling back from a showdown against fellow Shiite Muslims in the government. In a statement read in mosques during Friday prayers, Sadr said his recent threat of "open war" was aimed only at U.S.-led forces and he urged his followers not to fight Iraqi troops.

In the glow of a full moon, a U.S. military convoy inched toward a strategic road in Sadr City. The goal: to add to a wall being built to carve out a haven in the Shiite Muslim militia stronghold. But the mission ended before it began. Machine gun fire blasted out from the third floor of a building along the route. A Bradley fighting vehicle fired back, sending a thunderous roar through the neighborhood of middle-class homes and businesses. Then, the lead tank hit a roadside bomb.

Iraqi Col. Qassim Abdul-Wahab appeared relaxed as he cruised down rutted streets in an unarmored pickup truck, Arabic pop tunes pouring from the speakers and the air conditioner cranked up as high as it would go. For the first time since U.S.-led forces invaded the country in March 2003, Iraqi soldiers blanket Sadr City, the heavily populated Baghdad district that is the bastion of firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.