Troops enter Iraqi city as Shiites vie for power

THE struggle for power in Iraq's Shiite population has intensified as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sent troops into the southern city of Amara.

The operation in Amara, a city dominated politically by leading Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, came a day after Sheikh Sadr announced he was reorganising his movement.

In a statement read by aides during Friday prayers, Sheikh Sadr said the movement would divide into two branches, one operating as an underground militia opposed to the US-led occupation and the other concentrating on politics and providing social services.

Sheikh Sadr said the armed wing, which he called "the special companies", would be drawn from experienced Mahdi Army fighters and be limited in size. Fighters would have to have his written permission to carry weapons and might start launching attacks within the next week, the cleric's aides said.

Sheikh Sadr also announced at the weekend that his movement would not take part in provincial elections this year.

"We don't want anybody to blame us or consider us part of this Government while it is allowing the country to be under occupation," said Liwa Smeisim, head of the Sadr movement's political committee.

For months, Mr Maliki has been cracking down on what he calls "criminal elements", many of which have ties to the Sadr movement, as part of a drive to create what he and the Bush Administration have called "one authority with one gun".

Critics of Sheikh Sadr say he is pulling out of the elections to avoid embarrassing losses and is keeping most of the Mahdi Army from fighting so that it will not face defeat by US and Iraqi troops.

An Iraqi general said the operation in Amara would unfold along the lines of an initiative in March against Shiite militias in the nearby city of Basra, an offensive that ended when Iran brokered a deal between the various Shiite parties. During that operation, Iraqi soldiers entered but relied on air support from the US military and small teams of US advisers.

With a population of about 350,000, Amara is smaller than Basra but tactically important as a suspected conduit for weapons smuggled across marshlands along the border with Iran.

NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST