MORE INFO SHOWING IRAQ IS HEADED TOWARD ALL OUT CIVIL WAR

All across Iraq there are growing signs the country is slipping into a full-fledged CIVIL WAR.

This is just one of the reports we will being our blog readers to prove our point.

Iraqi forces battle militias in Basra,
25 Mar 2008 14:50:07 GMT 25 Mar 2008 14:50:07 GMT Source: Reuters
* Security forces fight militias in Basra
* Sadr threatens national "civil revolt"
* Fighting, curfews in southern towns
(Adds details from Basra, analyst quotes)

By Aref Mohammed

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25165911.htm

BASRA, Iraq, March 25 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces battled the Mehdi Army militia in Basra on Tuesday in a drive to win control of the southern oil city, but violence appeared to be spreading to Baghdad and other cities.

Police and health workers said at least 12 people were killed in the fighting in districts of central and northern Basra where Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army has a strong presence.

"There are clashes in the streets. Bullets are coming from everywhere and we can hear the sound of rocket explosions. This has been going on since dawn," resident Jamil told Reuters by telephone as he cowered in his home.

Columns of black smoke rose above the city and explosions and machinegun fire could be heard. Reuters Television pictures showed masked gunmen firing mortars in the street, while others drove around in captured Iraqi army and police vehicles.

The Mehdi Army, which has thousands of fighters, has kept a relatively low profile since last August when Sadr called a ceasefire, one of the main factors behind the sharp reduction in sectarian violence in Iraq in recent months.

But the militia has chafed at the truce, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces exploited it to carry out indiscriminate arrests.