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Iraqi troops replace border guards. Local police forces are raised. Maliki gives deadline for Mahdi Army to disarm. Sadrists fear being targeted. The Iraqi government and military continue to shape the battlefield for the confrontation with the Mahdi Army in Maysan province. Starting late last week, Iraqi security forces started the operation by sealing off the entrances and exits to the province, deploying additional forces from Baghdad and Basrah, warning the population, starting patrols in Amarah, and relieving the provincial chief of police. Since then, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has ordered all wanted Mahdi Army fighters to turn themselves...

The Iraqi security forces today formally kicked off the operations against the Mahdi Army in the southern province of Maysan. On the day the government's amnesty offer expired, the Iraqi Army and police conducted multiple raids throughout Amarah, the provincial capital. A senior Sadrist was detained during the raids. Iraqi forces arrested Rafeaa Jabar, the head of the Sadrist office in Maysan province. He is the mayor of Amarah and the deputy governor of the province. The Sadrists had stated they feared being the target of the operation. "We do not want Basrah events to be repeated in Amara," Sheikh...

Up to 20 people have been killed in clashes between joint Iraqi and British forces and Shia militia in southern Iraq, military leaders say. Fierce fighting took place in the town of Amara, Maysan province, during the British-supported Iraqi operation, which also targeted Majar al-Kabir. A statement from the coalition forces' headquarters in Baghdad said six people had also been injured in the clashes. UK spokesman Major David Gell said there had been no British casualties. "We have not yet got the full details, but certainly it was an Iraqi special operations forces operation which had been authorised by the...

Two British soldiers have been killed in south-east Iraq, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed. The soldiers from the Queen's Royal Lancers were on a routine patrol in Maysan Province when they were caught in an explosion. Three further soldiers were injured - one seriously. They have been flown to Tallil airbase in Dhi Qar province. The two deaths bring the total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq to 144. The soldiers were patrolling in a Scimitar tank when the blast occurred at 1120 local time (0820 BST) on Thursday. They were killed a day after...

Two newly trained Iraqi border police pose with their British trainer in front of their newly constructed border fort. (USACE Photo) Base Camp Adder (Ali Base) Iraq – Protecting the border between rivaling countries of Iraq and Iran in rural Maysan Province is a daunting mission assignment. The US Army Corps of Engineers soon realized that endeavoring to build border forts to shelter and safe guard border police patrolling these remote borders presented extraordinary construction challenges as well.The challenge was met in Maysan Province. Maysan is now more fortified than ever before, thanks to 22 new border forts constructed...