NAJAF, Iraq (Agencies): Iraq’s radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr may end a freeze on his militia’s activities, eliminating a key factor behind recent improved security in the country, his spokesman said on Friday. Sadr ordered a six-month freeze of the Mahdi Army’s activities late last August after allegations that his fighters were involved in bloody clashes in the central Shiite city of Karbala. The suspension was scheduled to last until the end of February, but the statement from Sadr’s office warned that the freeze may not be extended because, it said, the security services remain infiltrated by criminals. “The decision to suspend the Mahdi Army’s activities has not been rewarded with good results because the government is still counting on criminal gangs inside their security system in the provinces (outside Baghdad) without taking any legal measures against their crimes,” said Sadr’s spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi. “We have emphasised to the Mahdi Army that if the suspension is not extended they must be calm and stay within legal restrictions,” he added.

The US military said on Friday it had renewed its air blitz on al-Qaeda targets south of Baghdad, dropping bombs on sites it said were training camps for the jihadist network. The air strikes were part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a major assault launched on Jan 8 by US and Iraqi forces on al-Qaeda, considered by US commanders to be the greatest threat to stability in Iraq. A military statement said that on Wednesday 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilos) of munitions were dropped on bunkers in Arab Jabour, a Sunni rural area on the southern outskirts of the capital, reportedly used by al-Qaeda to train recruits. “Air Force B-1 Bombers dropped 19 GBU-31s (guided bomb units) on the site,” it said in Friday’s statement. Last week American warplanes dropped 47,500 pounds of explosives in a 10-minute blitz on Arab Jabour in one of the heaviest aerial bombardments since the US-led invasion in 2003.

US commanders said 47 targets were hit in that raid, while an anti-Qaeda “Awakening” leader in Arab Jabour said that at least 21 al-Qaeda fighters were killed. The US military did not mention casualties in its latest statement.
When Phantom Phoenix was launched, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the US second-in-command in Iraq, said the operation aimed to “pursue and neutralise remaining al-Qaeda in Iraq and other extremist elements.”
Battles
Iraqi soldiers and police fought running battles with gunmen from a Shiite cult in two southern cities on Friday in which dozens of people were killed and more than 50 wounded, officials said.
Police said the head of the so-called “Soldiers of Heaven” cult in Basra had been killed in the fighting, which is reminiscent of clashes between the obscure group and Iraqi and US forces a year ago. Those battles near the holy Shiite city of Najaf left hundreds dead, mainly members of the cult.
The latest clashes are the biggest test yet for Iraq’s army and police in the south since Britain finished handing back responsibility for security in the oil rich region last month.
Major-General Abdul Jalil Khalaf, the Basra provincial police chief, told Reuters that dozens of people had been killed in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, where gunmen staged a series of hit-and-run raids using heavy machineguns.
Khalaf did not give a precise number of those killed during several hours of fighting, but he said it included the head of the “Soldiers of Heaven” in the city.
At least 10 people including a police major-general and two colonels were killed in the city of Nassiriya, hospital and police officials said. Hospital officials said 53 people had been wounded. Witnesses said gunmen from the “Soldiers of Heaven” attacked four police stations in the city.
“The area (in Basra) where the clashes took place is under the control of the Iraqi security forces except for a few streets,” said Khalaf, who earlier said Iraqi military helicopters had been called in to hunt for gunmen.
Police in Basra and Nassiriya said fighters from the “Soldiers of Heaven” cult, once led by a man who claimed to be the mahdi, an Islamic messiah-like figure, had opened fire on security forces in both cities.
The fighting comes as observations for the Ashura festival, one of the holiest events in the Shiite Muslim religious calendar, approach their peak across southern Iraq on Saturday.
The focus of the event is in Kerbala, where the provincial governor said 2.5 million people had gathered.
A Reuters cameraman in Basra said he saw about 30 gunmen dressed in black carrying machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Some of them were driving at least two vehicles seized from police, he said.
A curfew was imposed in Nassiriya, 375 kms (235 miles) southeast of Baghdad, after fighting sparked panic.
“I was coming back from the market when clashes erupted. I was shot in my leg. There were masked gunmen shooting at police,” Abdullah Khalif, 32, said from his hospital bed.
Police said the gunmen in both cities were supporters of Ahmed Hassani al-Yemeni, who took over after the cult’s previous leader was killed in battles with security forces a year ago.
Those clashes near Najaf turned out to be one of the largest battles since the US-led invasion in 2003 but also one of the strangest episodes of the war.
Hundreds were killed, mostly members of the “Soldiers of Heaven”. A dozen Iraqi security forces were killed while a US attack helicopter was shot down, killing its two crew.
The government said at the time the “Soldiers of Heaven” had planned to kill top Shiite clerics.
A man who said he was from the movement told Reuters in Basra that their fighters had decided to attack security forces on Friday because of persecution he said the cult had suffered. He also said they believed the mahdi would appear on Friday.
The previous leader, who used the name Mahdi bin Ali bin Ali bin Abi Taleb, had claimed to be the mahdi.
Religious pilgrims have been gathering in Kerbala all week for Ashura, which commemorates the death in battle of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), near the city 1,300 years ago.
Imam Hussein’s death in 680 entrenched the schism between Shiite and Sunni Muslims over who they recognised as the successors of Prophet Muhammad PBUH).
Ashura
About 2.5 million people gathered in the holy Shiite city of Kerbala for the Ashura ritual on Friday, but some complained that strict security had kept numbers down.
Iraqi security forces have launched major operations across southern Iraq and in other areas to protect pilgrims, including vehicle curfews, 25,000 soldiers and police and the use of Iraqi surveillance aircraft for the first time.
Black-clad pilgrims have gathered in the city, 110 kms (70 miles) south of Baghdad, for the 10-day event which commemorates the death in battle of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), near the city 1,300 years ago.
Hundreds of pilgrims from Gulf states, encouraged by improved security in Iraq, attended for the first time in years.
Suspected al-Qaeda suicide bombers and mortar attacks killed 171 people during Ashura in Kerbala and Baghdad in 2004, while clashes between rival Shiite factions at a religious festival last August killed more than 50 people.
But security has improved dramatically across Iraq since last June, when an extra 30,000 US troops became fully deployed, with attacks down by 60 percent.
Ashura rites, which include self-flagellation, will begin to reach their peak from about midnight (2100 GMT) on Friday.
Imam Hussein’s death in 680 entrenched the schism between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. The split still sharply divides Iraq, with tens of thousands killed in sectarian fighting since the US-led invasion in 2003, although violence has recently ebbed.
Kerbala governor Aqeel al-Khazali said more than 2.5 million visitors, many of them walking, had converged on Kerbala for the ritual, which was severely curtailed under Saddam Hussein.
“I’m just wondering why the government decided to impose curfews. Are they following the steps of Saddam to curb and cancel this ritual?” said pilgrim Nasir Hasani.
Declining violence has allowed Iraqis to return to some semblance of normal life, as well as convincing Gulf Arab Shiites to come to Kerbala to observe Ashura.
“Many friends I talked to encouraged me to visit Kerbala this year because it’s safe enough,” said 45-year-old Hamdan Abu Mohammed, who came with a tour group from Kuwait through Iran.
Najma al-Haeil, 41, came from Bahrain with her two sisters and was happy to have reached the holy city for the first time.
“I believe Kerbala is not an Iraqi city, it is a city for all Muslims,” Haeil told Reuters.
“I heard that the security situation was in disarray but when I arrived I was surprised that security is good, and I was surprised that the people received us warmly,” she said.
Estimates for the number of Gulf Arab visitors were difficult to obtain. Kerbala tourism official Mohammed Saddiq al-Hir said 680 came from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Nafi abu Jabir, a tour operator from Bahrain, said he alone had brought in 250 pilgrims.
It is a difficult journey for many Gulf pilgrims, who go through Shiite Iran on their way to Kerbala.
Fudha al-Abtan, a 49-year-old Saudi woman who came with her husband and two sisters, said the journey had taken 10 days and cost $1,500.
“When we came to Kerbala, we expected the worst, but it’s really safe,” she said.
Abtan’s biggest concern, echoed by many Gulf pilgrims, was that they would face questioning when they returned home, although she said the Iraqi embassy in Tehran had given them temporary documents to enter Iraq.
Kuwait’s Mohammed agreed: “The issue of participating in a Shiite religious ritual is very sensitive in Kuwait, but we don’t care because our passports will not be marked by an Iraq border stamp”.
Bombed
Turkey’s military said Friday its jets had bombed nearly 60 Kurdish rebel targets in an attack this week in northern Iraq.
Turkish jets targeted rebel positions on Tuesday in the fourth cross-border aerial attack since Dec 16. The military said earlier Friday that 10 Kurdish rebels surrendered after the airstrike.
The warplanes destroyed five command centers, two communication centers, 15 training centers, 12 logistics facilities, 18 shelters, two anti-aircraft batteries and four ammunition depots, the military statement said.
The rebel targets were in the Zap-Sivi, Avasin-Basyan and Hakurk regions, it said. The military also distributed video footage and images of the operation, in which laser guided bombs were seen hitting some targets.
A large quantity of weapons, ammunition and other equipment was destroyed, it said.
The military said a study was under way to determine the rebel losses through various methods, including intelligence reports.
There has been no immediate rebel reaction to the military’s statement. The website of the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency, which often carries rebel statements, was blocked on Friday. A one-line sentence in Turkish and English that appears on the screen reads: “Access to this page has been blocked by law court decision.”
Ten Kurdish rebels, who reportedly fled rebel camps in northern Iraq, turned themselves in to authorities on Thursday in the Turkish town of Silopi near the Iraqi border, the military said Friday. A total of 21 rebels have surrendered over the past month, it said.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has battled for autonomy in southeastern Turkey for more than two decades – a campaign that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. It uses strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border strikes into Turkey.
In October, the Turkish parliament authorized the military to strike at the rebels across the border.
The United States – which with Turkey and the European Union considers the PKK a terrorist organization – has cautioned Ankara against a large incursion, fearing it could disrupt one of Iraq’s more stable regions.
In an apparent retaliation for Turkish attacks, suspected Kurdish militants blew up a car bomb in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir Jan 3.
The death toll in the bombing rose to seven on Friday when a high school student died of severe burns at a military hospital in Ankara. Although there were dozens of army officers among the 66 injured, all of the dead were civilians and mostly students.
Troops
The Pentagon’s top generals and admirals will make their own assessment for President George Bush on whether to continue pulling US troops out of Iraq in the second half of the year – independent of what Bush’s commander in Baghdad recommends, the top US military officer said Friday.

Navy Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him on the last stop of a six-day trip that the Joint Chiefs will take into account a range of issues beyond the security situation in Iraq. They will consider, for example, the effects of growing strain on troops and their families from multiple tours in Iraq, as well as the outlook for troop requirements in Afghanistan and elsewhere, Mullen said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced at the Pentagon on Thursday that he had asked the Joint Chiefs for their Iraq assessment, to coincide with recommendations from Gen David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, as well as Adm. William J. Fallon, the commander of American forces in the Middle East. The Joint Chiefs intend to have their consensus view ready for Gates and the president by March or April, Mullen said. Bush needs to hear the views from a range of senior military officers, Mullen said, on “the risks that are associated with whatever we’re going to do next” in Iraq, where about 160,000 US troops are on the ground in a conflict that appears, for the moment, to be leaning in favor of the US and Iraq governments.

Pressed for his own view on whether more troop cuts were likely after this summer, Mullen declined to give one. He stressed that Petraeus was constantly evaluating conditions on the ground in Iraq and that any number of events – positive or negative – could happen in the months ahead that would influence a troop-cut decision. The current plan, announced last September, is to reduce US forces in Iraq by five brigades, or roughly 30,000 troops by July. The Petraeus, Fallon and Joint Chiefs assessments are to focus on how to proceed after July. Before Bush accepted Petraeus’ recommendation last September, the Joint Chiefs presented their own view. Mullen, who was then a member of the Joint Chiefs as head of the Navy, said Friday that “there were some differences” among the service chiefs last time around, “but we worked them out.” Mullen made his remarks in an interview with three reporters flying with him to San Salvador from Bogota, Colombia, where he had met with top Colombian defense officials to discuss their war against rebel forces.