These are the archives for the week ending 23rd March 2007
UK troops deploy in Basra
Gunmen clashed on Thursday in the port city of Basra, the hub of Iraq's great southern oil field that is the source of most of the country's wealth.
Gunmen attacked the headquarters of Fadhila, a small but powerful party that controls the province and withdrew from the country's ruling Shi'ite alliance earlier this month, witnesses said.
British forces pulled out on Tuesday of their base in central Basra, Iraq's second city, and handed it over to the Iraqi 10th division in what a British general called an important step towards Iraqis taking control of their security.
Hospital sources said seven people had been wounded in the clashes, which residents said lasted nearly an hour. A curfew was imposed for several hours as Iraqi police and soldiers and British troops deployed in the area.
"We don't have a great deal of clarity on what happened but police asked us to deploy our forces in that part of the city. By the time we got there there wasn't much to see," said British military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin Stratford-Wright.
Details of the fighting were sketchy but Ali al-Hamadi, the head of Basra's emergency security committee, blamed it on a "misunderstanding" between Fadhila and the Mehdi Army militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
A Shi'ite official in Baghdad said the two groups were fighting over one of the buildings vacated by the British troops, although this could not be immediately confirmed.
Reuters 22/3/07
Iraq attack rattles UN head
A rocket landed near the prime minister's office in Baghdad yesterday during the first visit to Iraq by the head of the United Nations in nearly a year and a half, sending Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ducking unharmed behind a podium at a news conference.
The rocket caused no injuries but rattled the building in the heavily guarded Green Zone, sent small chips of debris floating from the ceiling, and left a three-foot-wide crater about 50 meters away outside.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told his security guards "Nothing's wrong," as they moved to grab him, and the news conference kept going.
The explosion occurred right after al-Maliki had finished telling reporters that Ban's visit was a sign that Iraq was on the road to stability.
The last visit to Iraq by the head of the UN was in November 2005, by Ban's predecessor, Kofi Annan. The United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was bombed by militants on August 19, 2003, and 22 people died, including the top UN envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
The UN's international staff withdrew from Iraq in October 2003 following a second assault on its offices and other attacks on humanitarian workers. A small staff has gradually been allowed to return since August 2004.
Shanghi Daily.com 22/3/07
UK pull-out in Iraq a 'surprise'
Iraq's defence minister expressed surprise when Tony Blair announced 1,600 UK troops were being pulled out of Basra.
But speaking at a press conference in central London on Wednesday, Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim insisted: "I am absolutely confident that Iraq's army is quite ready to meet the challenges, even if the withdrawal becomes quite sudden."
Mr Jassim said Iraqi commanders in southern Iraq were "surprised by the British announcing they would pull out 1,600 soldiers from Basra".
They responded by speeding up plans to bring in a new brigade of about 5,000 of their own troops.
Mr Blair stated last month that the British presence was being reduced from 7,100 to 5,500 over the coming months.
However, Mr Jassim told journalists through a translator that Britain had made it clear the withdrawal was "dependent on the readiness of the Iraqis".
Guardian Unlimited 22/3/07