Basra

BASRA, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister declared a state of emergency yesterday in once-peaceful and oil-rich Basra, as the sectarian and militia violence engulfing the country's capital spread to its southern economic heartland. In his first major policy speech since his government was sworn in May 20, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to restore security in Iraq as attacks around the country claimed 25 lives and wounded dozens. "We shall use an iron fist against the leaders of the gangs or those who threaten security," he said, apparently referring to the militias as well as rival tribal groups.

An Iraqi official says Iraq and Iran have exchanged the bodies of 111 soldiers killed during the two countries' 1980-1988 war. Mahdi al-Tamimi, an official in Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, says the remains of 98 Iranians and 13 Iraqis were returned to their native countries during a ceremony on Tuesday. Al-Tamimi says the swap at a border checkpoint near the southern Iraqi city of Basra brings the number of Iraqi bodies received since 1996 to 2,262. Iranians have received 1,597 bodies of their fallen.

BAGHDAD - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gave a "final warning" to the government yesterday to halt a US-Iraqi crackdown against his followers or he would declare "open war until liberation. " The warning by the anti-American cleric appeared on his website as Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated government claimed success in its push against Shi'ite militants in the southern city of Basra. Iraqi soldiers backed by British troops entered Hayaniyah, the local stronghold of Sadr's Mahdi militia in Basra.

BASRA, Iraq — Followers of the anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded on Monday better living conditions in Iraq on the ninth anniversary of the US-led invasion of their country. Iraqis have struggled with high unemployment, corruption, and an infrastructure degraded by years of sanctions, war, and economic neglect. As the violence across the country has abated, economic development has become a key concern for many Iraqis. Sheik Assad al-Nasiri said that Sadrists want the government to step up with better-paying jobs, public services, and to fight corruption now that US...

STONEHAM - As director Weylin Symes points out in his program notes, Colin Teevan's "How Many Miles to Basra?," an Iraq-war drama making its US debut at Stoneham Theatre, originated as a radio play. Attempting to ignore that fact is like trying not to think about elephants. Despite Cristina Todesco's evocative set - sweeps of desolate desert brown punctuated by electricity towers - and the best efforts of a generally skilled cast, the play never achieves three-dimensional credibility.

BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber attacked a crowded market in oil-rich southern Basra yesterday, killing 28 people and wounding 62. In Baghdad, a Russian diplomat was killed and four diplomatic employees were kidnapped. Meanwhile, Iraq's prime minister was poised to appoint ministers to run the army and police, despite lingering disagreement among Iraq's ethnic and sectarian parties. Filling the posts is seen as a key step toward Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's plan for Iraqi forces to take control of security from US-led troops in 18 months.

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times was killed after men claiming to be police officers abducted him from his home in the southern city of Basra, the newspaper announced yesterday. Fakher Haider, a 38-year-old reporter covering Basra, was found dead in a deserted area on the city's outskirts yesterday morning after his abduction late Sunday night. Relatives identified the body at the city morgue and said he appeared to have been shot more than once in the head.

BASRA, Iraq — Followers of the anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded on Monday better living conditions in Iraq on the ninth anniversary of the US-led invasion of their country. Iraqis have struggled with high unemployment, corruption, and an infrastructure degraded by years of sanctions, war, and economic neglect. As the violence across the country has abated, economic development has become a key concern for many Iraqis. Sheik Assad al-Nasiri said that Sadrists want the government to step up with better-paying jobs, public services, and to fight...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An American freelance journalist was found dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the US Embassy said today. Police said Steven Vincent had been shot multiple times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier. "I can confirm to you that officials in Basra have recovered the body of journalist Steven Vincent," said embassy spokesman Pete Mitchell. Iraqi police in Basra said Vincent was abducted along with his female translator at gunpoint last evening.

BAGHDAD - Violence returned yesterday to the southern city of Basra, where militants pummeled Britain's airport base with 20 rockets and British gunners answered with volleys of artillery. Civilians were killed and wounded in the crossfire. In Baghdad, a bomb-rigged car blew apart at a bus stop, killing at least five people in a Shi'ite enclave that had not seen major violence in months. The two attacks, in areas considered relatively stable, were troubling reminders that recent improvements in Iraqi security were fragile and far from deeply rooted.

BASRA, Iraq - Iraq will supply the world with its last barrel of oil, according to local lore, and that barrel will come from Basra. Sitting on an estimated 120 billion barrels of untapped crude, this southern province, tucked between Iran and Kuwait, is key to Iraq's economic future. But local residents and officials worry that they are lagging behind their next-door neighbors, whose infrastructure and oil-drilling capabilities are far more advanced. As the US military prepares for an end-of-year deadline to leave Iraq, residents here are concerned that the central...

BASRA, Iraq — A roadside bomb killed six people and wounded 12 yesterday morning in the oil-rich city of Basra in southern Iraq, local officials said. A police officer in Basra and a morgue official confirmed the death toll from the blast in the city’s Maqal area, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Another police officer said the bomb hit a bus after it missed a passing US Army patrol. He put the death toll at three, but there was no way to immediately reconcile the difference in numbers.

BASRA, Iraq — Iraqis demanding better public services, jobs, and pensions blocked a bridge yesterday in the southern oil hub of Basra, as spreading Middle East unrest emboldens Iraqis to take on government officials over poor living standards. After the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, frustrated Iraqis have staged repeated protests across the country. This week, at least five people were killed when demonstrations in two cities in Iraq turned violent. About 1,000 people rallied yesterday in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, to demand the...

There have to be good reasons to watch a scripted drama about the war in Iraq, as opposed to a documentary. And BBC America’s powerful “Occupation’’ provides plenty of them. This four-hour epic, which premieres tomorrow night at 8, is a spectacularly acted and dramatically filmed look at three British soldiers during and after their service. A sort of “The Best Years of Our Lives’’ for a more fractured time, “Occupation’’ is a portrait of how war can break even the hardiest of souls.

BAGHDAD - Many Iraqi voters expressed the hope that yesterday's mostly free and peaceful provincial elections will mean a further easing of violence and corruption in the country. Haidar Mahmoud, 40, an unemployed resident of Basra, said he voted for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's slate "because if it weren't for him, there would still be killing in the streets of Basra. " "The most important thing for me is for the next council to fight corruption," said Sattar Jabar, 35, a baker in Baghdad.

BASRA, Iraq - The top US general in Iraq said he will make a decision about the future role of American troops in early spring, to allow enough time to address any violence that may arise from January's provincial elections. Army General Ray Odierno said the two-month period after the election will allow US troops and Iraqi security forces to ensure that those legitimately elected can take office. He also said US troops will move into southern Iraq early next year to replace departing British forces.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers fired in the air over supporters of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to prevent them from gathering for Muslim prayers yesterday in the southern city of Basra, enraging the worshipers and straining a fragile truce with the government. In another worrisome sign, a top aide to Sadr accused Iraqi forces of violations of a separate truce in Baghdad's Sadr City, where thousands of Iraqi troops have deployed in what has been a peaceful campaign to impose control.

BASRA, Iraq — Iraqis demanding better public services, jobs, and pensions blocked a bridge yesterday in the southern oil hub of Basra, as spreading Middle East unrest emboldens Iraqis to take on government officials over poor living standards. After the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, frustrated Iraqis have staged repeated protests across the country. This week, at least five people were killed when demonstrations in two cities in Iraq turned violent. About 1,000 people rallied yesterday in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, to demand the...

STONEHAM - As director Weylin Symes points out in his program notes, Colin Teevan's "How Many Miles to Basra?," an Iraq-war drama making its US debut at Stoneham Theatre, originated as a radio play. Attempting to ignore that fact is like trying not to think about elephants. Despite Cristina Todesco's evocative set - sweeps of desolate desert brown punctuated by electricity towers - and the best efforts of a generally skilled cast, the play never achieves three-dimensional credibility.

BAGHDAD - Masked gunmen ambushed a bus carrying election workers in southern Iraq yesterday, killing two of them, including an official known for resisting interference by Shi'ite religious extremists, authorities said. Also yesterday, a suicide car bomber blasted a police checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi, killing seven policemen, an official said. The two incidents in widely separated parts of the country illustrate the dangers still facing Iraq despite a sharp decline in violence over the past year.