Iraqis call for talks on Basra

BAGHDAD, March 28 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Parliament speaker called for a session Friday to calm the recent violence in Basra and Baghdad as the U.S. military enters the fray.

Prominent Shiite officials and representatives from the Sadrist Movement, as well as representatives from the Sunni Awakening Councils, attended the Friday news conference by the Iraqi speaker of Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who called for a session to address the conflict in Basra.

Former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who attended the news conference, called for Iraqi leaders and citizens to "save the political (process) from its current predicament."

Meanwhile, a leading cleric in Karbala, Sadeq al-Hussein al-Shirazi, called Friday for an immediate cease-fire by all parties in order to reach a dialogue to resolve the "schism menacing the stability of Iraq and the region," Voices of Iraq reported.

Shirazi called on "all influential scholars, tribes and national Islamic powers" to reach a resolution to the conflict between Iraqi national forces operating under the authority of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and splinter groups of the Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army.

Maliki himself on Thursday said there would be "no dialogue or concessions" for militants, but on Friday extended his call for militants to hand in their weapons, with financial award, to April 8.

The spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, said Baghdad planned talks with Sadr "through different channels" in an effort to reach a conclusion to the conflict.

On the conflict front, the Iranian Press TV quotes a British military spokesman saying U.S.-led forces coordinated airstrikes against Iraqi militants in Basra.