Iraq fires 1,300 after failed Basra offensive

"Some of them were sympathetic with these lawbreakers, some refused to battle for political or national or sectarian or religious reasons," Khalaf told the Associated Press in Basra.

The Basra campaign was widely criticized as poorly planned after it failed to disarm Shi'ite militias, in particular the Mahdi Army loyal to the radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

However, US and Iraqi officials say that the arrival of the security forces in larger numbers has restored order to the streets, and the nearby ports vital to Iraq's oil industry.

The Basra clashes pitched the country's two most powerful Shi'ite forces against each other - the Mahdi Army and the government security forces dominated by Sadr's most powerful Shi'ite rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

The fighting also spilled over into Baghdad, 300 miles north, particularly in Sadr's Baghdad stronghold, Sadr City, which is surrounded by Iraqi and US soldiers.

Sadr City has been effectively divided in two, since US and Iraqi troops moved into the southern edge of the district to stop rockets from being fired at Baghdad's high-security Green Zone. The remainder is still under the control of the Mahdi Army and its allies in the heavily infiltrated police and security forces.

A large and overwhelmingly Shi'ite urban sprawl of cheap housing and street markets, Sadr City has long presented a huge security problem for the Americans and Iraqis, with ambushes and roadside bombs.

Last week, reporters saw Mahdi fighters burying artillery shells in the road as bombs to use against government forces if they pushed further into the Mahdi-held areas. Those preparations continued in recent days as the militia appeared to be preparing an elaborate network of booby traps.

Yesterday, wires from roadside buildings were visible leading to newly dug strips in a major road, in some places every 30 meters.

Sadr's office in Sadr City would not allow Western journalists to enter the district yesterday, refusing to give an explanation.

Some Iraqi policemen were seen evacuating their stations from the area now controlled by government forces.

On Saturday, police pickup trucks loaded with furniture, office materials, and clothes headed out of Sadr City, on two different exit routes.

The reason for their departure was unclear: Some said they had been ordered out because their loyalties were questioned, and others said it was because the army wanted to use their buildings.

Iraqi soldiers staffing one southern checkpoint confirmed they saw the police departing.