By Xinhua
Baghdad : U.S. aircraft opened fire on a group of “suspected insurgents” who were planting roadside bombs in the southern city of Basra, killing five of them and wounded others, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
Basra, some 550 km south of Iraq, has been the scene of a fierce clashes between the Iraqi security forces and Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The U.S. aircraft spotted a group of ten individuals appeared to be burying improvised explosive device IED in the Hayyaniyah district at about 11:45 p.m. (2045 GMT) on Monday, a U.S. military statement said.
An leading official from Sadr followers in Basra confirmed to Xinhua that a plane has pounded positions of Mahdi Army in the Hayyaniyah neighborhood, killing four of militiamen and wounding several others.
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that after fierce clashes with the Iraqi security forces, many parts of Basra City are now under control of Mahdi Army.
Late on Monday, Brigadier Abdul Karim Khalaf, the head of operations in the Iraqi Interior Ministry, announced that a massive security operation will be launched in Iraq’s southern oil hub of Basra.
The offensive, dubbed “Operation Cavalry Assault,” aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence in the city, Khalaf said.
The operation came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a visit to Iraq’s second largest city of Basra to restore order in the city where instability was spreading.