Iraq: A lose-lose game

Fierce clashes between the Shia militiamen of Al-Mahdi Army and US and Iraqi forces continued off and on in Baghdad's Sadr City and other southern towns this week, killing and wounding hundreds in the latest effort by Al-Maliki's government to take control over areas dominated by supporters of the maverick Shia leader Moqtada Al-Sadr. The clashes came despite a call by Al-Sadr on Friday for an end to fighting that unfolded following a nationwide crackdown by Iraqi security forces on strongholds of Al-Sadr's powerful militia few weeks ago.

The government's onslaught on Sadr City apparently aims at driving Al-Mahdi militia from their most powerful base of support in Baghdad after a successful campaign in Basra in April that forced fighters to leave Iraq's second largest city's streets. Initial reports suggested that US and Iraqi forces have advanced only into a small portion of the sprawling slum of three million people, as fighters resorted to hide-and-seek tactics trying to avoid US aircraft that have been shelling their hideouts.

Some 400 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in Sadr City since 25 March and Sadr's supporters accused the Iraqi army of atrocities. The Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera news network on Monday broadcast footage showing Iraqi soldiers torturing Sadrists after a crackdown in the southern town of Souq Al-Sheoukh and setting fire to a hideout where Sadrists were believed to have taken shelter. Iraq's Defence Ministry spokesman Mohamed Al-Askari dismissed the footage as fabrication though admitted a fight had taken place in the town between Iraqi soldiers and Sadrists.

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