Iraqi troops backed by tanks tightened their grip on Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City on Thursday after a truce ended weeks of deadly street fighting between US troops and militiamen. Thousands of soldiers in tanks, armored cars and trucks moved deep into the impoverished district in northeastern Baghdad, witnesses said.Convoys of Soviet-era tanks and armored cars were seen rumbling along dusty and crowded streets and moving into narrow alleyways, meeting no resistance from the anti-American Mehdi Army militia which had controlled the area.
Children were seen offering water to soldiers in the scorching summer heat.
There were similar scenes on Tuesday when troops made their initial foray into Sadr City which had been off limits to them for two months while US troops battled supporters of the Mehdi Army, lead by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The Sadrists welcomed the deployment of the Iraqi troops in line with the truce but said they do not want any US troops in Sadr City.
Maliki on Thursday met Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in the country in the central shrine city of Najaf, the government said. "When politicians come to see Sayyed Sistani, he always recommends that the state should impose its authority and that arms should only be in the hands of the authorities to defend the downtrodden," said the premier, who is also a Shiite.
The elderly and fragile Sistani shuns the limelight, never speaks with the press and rarely makes public appearances. As is customary, there was no comment from his office on the premier's visit.