Basra fight turns political

BAGHDAD, March 31 (UPI) -- A Sadrist lawmaker said the Iraqi curfew enacted to quell recent violence created a humanitarian disaster amid inter-political wrangling over the shaky truce.

Falah Shinishel with the Sadrist Movement said residents in Basra and Baghdad under the curfew suffered from a "dire shortage" of food and medicine and blamed the Iraqi government for continuing the curfew "for unrealistic reasons," Voices of Iraq said Monday.

The spokesman for the Iraqi government, Ali al-Dabbagh, said intelligence suggesting militants were planning a large-scale operation against residential areas prompted a decision to impose an extended curfew on vehicle traffic, though the government lifted the general curfew.

"Terrorist groups are trying to exploit the current situation, and target the residential (areas)," Dabbagh told VOI.

Iraqi lawmakers went to the Iranian city of Qom to broker a cease-fire with Moqtada Sadr, who is in the holy city to further his clerical studies, the McClatchy Newspapers reported.

Sadr called for militants to end their conflict Sunday following negotiations with members of the Dawa Party and the Badr Organization and the commander of the Iranian Qods brigade, Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the report said.

The Iraqi delegation suggested the deal would collapse as Shiite parties tried to convince Sadr the engagement was part of a larger campaign to sideline his movement.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki praised Sadr's move as "positive" but suggested operations in Basra would continue to target rogue elements.