By Prensa Latina
Baghdad : The fighting between the Mahdi Army and security forces have left 125 people dead and 500 others wounded in the southern Iraqi city of Basra and nearby localities, the Interior Ministry informed on Saturday.
The clashes began Monday, when thousands of soldiers launched an offensive in that city against strongholds of the armed group supporting Shiite Muslim Moqtada al Sader.
The rebel militia of the Mahdi army and the governmental forces are stil fighting today.
Al Sader followers last night attacked the Basra Central Police Station with mortar shells, killing three agents and one officer.
Meanwhile, US troops today confirmed their participation in two of their direct actions against that militia, informing they killed 48 activists in shootings and air assaults Friday in Baghdad.
In one of the attacks last night in north-western Baghdad, a US chopper fired a Hellfire missile, killing dozens of alleged members of the Mahdi Army, accused of attacking a checkpoint.
Alternative sources do not rule out the possibility that the victims were civilians, as bombing densely populated Iraqi zones has become a common US practice.