Iraqi soldiers tell civilians to leave Sadr City area

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Iraqi soldiers for the first time warned residents in the embattled Sadr City district to leave their houses today, signaling a new push by the U.S.-backed forces against Shiite extremist who have been waging street battles for seven weeks.

Iraqi soldiers, using loudspeakers, told residents in some virtually abandoned areas of southeastern Sadr City to go to nearby soccer stadiums, residents said. UNICEF says about 6,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Sadr City, most of them from the southeastern section.

U.S. forces have increased air power and armored patrols in an attempt to cripple Shiite militia influence in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Baghdad base for the Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The U.S. military is trying to weaken the militia's grip in the slum and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes from Sadr City on the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and key Iraqi government offices.

Several civilians were injured in rocket or mortar attacks that hit downtown Baghdad this week.

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Iraqi soldiers on Thursday shut down a local radio station, al-Aahad, run by the Sadrists after raiding offices of the station in a neighborhood near Sadr City, police said.

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The radio station probably operated as a command and control facility for the Sadr forces. The Iraqi army continues to do well in these operations and they are grinding down the Mahdi resistance. They are also becoming more adept at handling the human shield war crimes of the
Mahdi army.