星期六，在美军空袭和英军炮击之后，伊拉克政府军夺取了被萨德尔领导的甚叶派武装控制的哈亚尼亚地区。目前尚未公布伤亡人数。
旨在清除萨德尔甚叶派武装力量的军事行动自三月份开始，近来正逐渐取得进展。
BREAKING09-APR19-IRAQ-BASRA
BREAKING09: STORY 615
BASRA
BASRA, IRAQ
APRIL 19, 2008
NATURAL
DURATION:02:18
SOURCE:REUTERS
FEED HISTORY:+NEW BN09(095GMT)
INTRO: Iraqi forces say they have captured a Basra stronghold of anti-U.S.
Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
TV AND WEB RESTRICTIONS~**NONE**~
Iraqi government forces say they have captured a stronghold of fighters
loyal to anti-U.S. Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of
Basra.
SHOWS: (BN09) BASRA, IRAQ (APRIL 19, 2008) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
1. VARIOUS OF IRAQI ARMY ARMOURED VEHICLES ALONG ROAD
2. VARIOUS OF IRAQI SOLDIERS IN STREET, ENTERING HOUSE PAST FAMILY
3. IRAQI SOLDIERS AND COUPLE OF CIVILIANS IN STREET
4. VARIOUS OF IRAQI MILITARY TRUCKS CARRYING SOLDIERS ALONG ROAD
5. IRAQI VEHICLE PASSES BRITISH ARMOURED AND CAGED MILITARY
VEHICLE
6. VARIOUS OF BRITISH VEHICLE AND SOLDIERS
7. VARIOUS OF CIVILIANS ON STREETS
8. IRAQI ARMOURED VEHICLES ON STREET
STORY: Iraqi government forces on Saturday (April 19) said they captured a
stronghold of fighters loyal to anti-U.S. Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in
the southern city of Basra after a massive show of force by U.S. warplanes and
British artillery.
The operation was part of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s crackdown on
Sadr’s followers launched in March.
The commander of Iraqi forces in Basra, Lieutenant-General Mohan
al-Furaiji, told Reuters his troops had seized the centre of the Hayaniya
neighbourhood, one of the main strongholds of Sadr’s Mehdi Army fighters.
No information about casualties was immediately available.
A Reuters reporter in Nassiriya, another southern provincial capital,
said there were also clashes between government troops and Mehdi Army fighters
in a nearby town and a curfew had been imposed.
Maliki’s crackdown against the Mehdi Army in Basra in late March
initially failed to drive the militia from the streets and resulted in
fighting in strongholds of Sadr fighters throughout the south of the country
and the capital Baghdad.
The prime minister, himself a Shi’ite, has since threatened to ban
Sadr’s mass movement from political life if the cleric does not disband the
Mehdi Army. In response, Sadr threatened to formally scrap a ceasefire he
imposed on his militia last August, a move that could trigger a full-scale
uprising.
The fighting against Shi’ite militiamen has been the biggest test so
far of Iraq’s government troops, which took the lead especially in the south
where there are few U.S. forces and British troops are mainly confined to a
single base in Basra.
U.S. commanders have said the March crackdown in Basra was carried out
too suddenly and poorly planned. The government dismissed 1,300 soldiers and
police officers for refusing to stand and fight.
But in the weeks since, government forces have moved more slowly and
deliberately into Sadr-controlled areas, arresting Mehdi Army figures while
largely avoiding major street battles.
On Monday they scored a victory in Basra, freeing a British journalist
in a raid on a house where he was held by militants.
