S. Iraq fighting death toll tops 100

BAGHDAD, March 27 (UPI) -- Violence raged around Baghdad and southern Iraq, where confrontations between Iraqi security forces and rebel militia members killed at least 100 people.

In Baghdad, U.S. military officials said terrorists initiated 11 indirect-fire attacks Thursday against civilians, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces, killing one civilian near the Green Zone and injuring 14.

Five mortar rounds struck two joint security stations and a Sons of Iraq citizen security group checkpoint in West Rashid, wounding three Iraqi security volunteers.

Fighting between Iraqi forces and Shiite militia in the southeastern Iraqi city of Kut Thursday killed 42 people and wounded 17, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official told CNN. Since the fighting began Tuesday, more than 100 people have died in Basra, Baghdad, Hilla, Kut and Diwaniya.

U.S. military officials said militants killed two members of the U.S.-backed Sons of Iraq in Salaheddin province.

Fighting in oil-rich Basra and other Shiite regions persisted Thursday between Iraqi security forces and militias such as hard-line Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and his Mehdi fighters. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been overseeing the operation, set a Saturday deadline for militants to surrender their weapons.

About 30 Iraqi militants were killed Wednesday when coalition airplanes and helicopters fired on gunmen in Babylon, an Iraqi security source told KUNA, the Kuwaiti news agency.

U.S. military officials said coalition forces conducted operations in targeting al-Qaida in Iraq suspects near Tikrit.

Forces reportedly exchanged in small arms fire with several suspects in a building later destroyed by coalition aircraft, U.S. officials said Thursday.