Cairo
27 March 2008
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he will continue the Iraqi military offensive in Basra "to the end" with no negotiations or retreat, despite angry protests in Shi'ite districts calling for his resignation. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has been monitoring events from our Middle East Bureau in Cairo and reports intense fighting in Basra continued for a third day.
Speaking in Ohio, President Bush said the Basra offensive is a sign of the progress Iraqi security forces have made.
"This offensive builds on the security gains of the surge and demonstrates to the Iraqi people that their government is committed to protecting them. There is a strong commitment by the central government of Iraq to say that no one is above the law."
Meanwhile, fighting rocked Basra for a third straight day. Gunbattles also erupted in the southern city of Kut, while curfews remained in effect elsewhere in the south.
A bomb explosion damaged one of the two main oil pipelines from Basra, disrupting oil exports from southern Iraq for the first time since 2004.
A spokesman for Iraq's Southern Oil Company said the attack would cut crude exports from Basra by about a third. But Iraqi government officials in Baghdad told the Reuters news agency the damage was not serious and could be repaired quickly.
In Baghdad, barrages of rocket and mortar fire slammed into the heavily-fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic compound. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad said a U.S. government employee was killed in the Green Zone attacks that officials say appeared to originate in Shi'ite neighborhoods.