As Brits Leave, Basra Crumbles

Victims were marking a holy day

(NEWSER) - Iraq's Sunni-Shiite tensions worsened yet again today when a suicide bomber killed at least 53 Shiite pilgrims marking a holy day, reports Reuters . The bomber, dressed as a police officer, struck at a checkpoint in Basra. No claims of responsibility yet, but it bears the hallmarks of Sunni-dominated al-Qaeda, which is trying to capitalize on the sectarian chaos, notes the New York Times . More»

Brown says troops home by July in surprise Baghdad visit

(NEWSER) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Baghdad today and announced that all but a handful of British troops will leave Iraq by July 2009. About 4,000 British service members remain in Iraq, mostly around Basra, though at the height of the war 100,000 were deployed. Since the war began 178 British troops have lost their lives, reports the Times of London. More»

(NEWSER) - British troops will begin withdrawing their 4,000 troops from Iraq in March and will have all but a few hundred out by the end of June, the Guardian reports. They will be replaced at their base in Basra not by Iraqis but by Americans, who are worried about keeping supply routes safe from Kuwait. The withdrawal will effectively end Britain's six-year mission in southern Iraq. More»

Iraqi lawmakers met cleric in Iran before deal was struck

(NEWSER) - Iran played a key role in convincing Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to call a ceasefire in Basra yesterday, CNN reports. Iraqi lawmakers from five Shiite parties traveled to Iran on Friday to meet with al-Sadr, and returned yesterday, right before al-Sadr's injunction to halt violence in Basra, an Iraqi official said. More»

US widens its airstrikes, and Sadr tells followers to keep their weapons

(NEWSER) - As the Iraqi army struggles to combat militias in Basra, British troops for the first time directly joined the fight, and American forces expanded their bombing beyond the militia stronghold. The Brits, who had previously provided only logistical and air support to the Iraqis, fired on an insurgent mortar team in Bosra, the Telegraph reports. Moqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, told his soldiers not to surrender their weapons. More»