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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Fierce clashes break out in Basra | Fierce clashes break out in Basra |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Heavy fighting has erupted in Iraq's southern city of Basra between Iraqi security forces and members of the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia. | Heavy fighting has erupted in Iraq's southern city of Basra between Iraqi security forces and members of the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia. |
| Eyewitnesses speak of plumes of smoke, explosions, tanks and artillery. | |
| Authorities in Basra have already imposed an indefinite night-time curfew because of the security situation. | |
| Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki is in the city overseeing the operation, said the UK military, which returned control of Basra to the Iraqis in December. | |
| A British military spokesman said the operation was being directed by Iraqi forces and that UK troops, now based at Basra airport, were not involved. | |
| The Iraqi army conducted raids across Basra on Tuesday, while routes into the city have been sealed off, according to reports. | |
| Security clampdown | |
| Officials at the city's hospitals said a number of wounded people had been brought in. | |
| On Monday, the Iraqi prime minister said the central government had decided to "re-impose security, stability and law" in the oil-rich city. | |
| But the powerful Mehdi Army - which is loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr - had warned it would retaliate if its members were targeted in any security clampdown. | |
| Last month the cleric renewed a ceasefire his group had been observing since last August. | Last month the cleric renewed a ceasefire his group had been observing since last August. |
| But the militia is reportedly in the middle of a turf war with rival Shia militias. | |
| Despite its ceasefire, there have been a number of assassinations and kidnappings in its Basra stronghold. | |
| Criminal gangs have been vying for control of lucrative oil-smuggling routes, say correspondents. | |
| The oil fields in the Basra area are the source of most of Iraq's revenues. | |
| The BBC's Adam Brookes says the operation appears to be aimed at loosening the grip of militias and criminal gangs on Iraq's most economically important city. | |
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