http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2008/March/focusoniraq_March170.xml§ion=focusoniraq28 March 2008
BAGHDAD - Fighters loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have seized the centre of the southern Nassiriya city, a Reuters witness said on Friday.
A four-day-old Iraqi army crackdown on Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army in Basra, Iraq’s second city and its gateway to the Gulf, has sparked fighting across the south and in Baghdad.
In the capital, Iraqi lawmakers were due to hold an emergency session in a bid to end violence in the flashpoint oil city of Basra, where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave militants a new deadline to hand over their weapons.
A Reuters reporter in Nassiriya, capital of Dhi Qar province, said he could see groups of fighters with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The sound of sporadic gunfire echoed through the streets. Police appeared to be staying in their stations, he said.
Militants have also taken control of the town of Shatra, 40 km to the north, he said, citing witnesses.