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SADR MILITIA RISES AGAIN: At least 40 people were killed in clashes between Iraqi security forces and fighters from the Shia Sadr militia on Tuesday and Wednesday in Iraq's second largest city Basra. Hundreds were injured in Basra and Baghdad after the fighting spread to the capital's main Shia district of Sadr city. The fighting erupted after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki gave militants a three-day ultimatum to lay down their arms and renounce violence, "otherwise they will face the most severe penalties," he warned. His campaign to "re-impose law" in Basra triggered unrest elsewhere in Iraq. The violence could end a ceasefire declared in August by Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr.

British forces, which patrolled Basra for nearly five years, withdrew to a base outside the city in December and have not been involved in the fighting. In Baghdad, rockets were fired at the diplomatic and government compound of the Green Zone.

photo: AP