BAGHDAD, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - Gunmen have shot dead a top police officer in a Shiite stronghold of the Iraqi capital, security officials told AFP on Sunday.

BAGHDAD, May 23, 2008 (AFP) - British Defence Secretary Des Browne has made an unannounced visit to Iraq's southern city of Basra and had a brief walkabout in the downtown area, military spokesman Major Tom Holloway said on Friday.

BAGHDAD, May 8, 2008 (AFP) - Eight people were killed and eight more wounded, including four soldiers from US-led coalition forces, in new violence in Iraq's southern city of Basra on Thursday, the American military said.

BAGHDAD, May 8, 2008 (AFP) - Eight people were killed and eight more wounded, including four soldiers from US-led coalition forces, in new violence in Iraq's southern port city of Basra on Thursday, the American military said.

BAGHDAD, April 26, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi forces have taken control of the last militia stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Basra, the US military said in a statement on Saturday.

BASRA, Iraq, April 24, 2008 (AFP) - A month after Iraqi troops poured into the southern city of Basra to take on militiamen who had overrun five neighbourhoods, the government says it has regained control there.

'All areas of Basra are under the command of the security forces,' interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said on Thursday.

BASRA, Iraq, April 24, 2008 (AFP) - A month after Iraqi troops poured into the southern city of Basra to take on militiamen who had overrun five neighbourhoods, the government claims to have regained control of the streets.

'All areas of Basra are under the command of the security forces,' interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdel Karim Khalaf said on Thursday.

BASRA, Iraq, April 19, 2008 (AFP) - Iraqi forces took control on Saturday of a district of the southern city of Basra which has seen intense firefights between troops and Shiite militiamen, the interior ministry said.

BAGHDAD, April 16, 2008 (AFP) - Iraq on Wednesday removed the Iraqi army and police commanders in the southern city of Basra, weeks after a crackdown on Shiite militiamen set off fierce firefights across the country.

BAGHDAD, April 16, 2008 (AFP) - A US air strike on the southern Iraqi city of Basra killed four people and wounded one on Wednesday, British military spokesman Major Tom Holloway said.

The assault took place in Basra's restive northern district of Hayaniyah, where Shiite militiamen have been battling security forces since March 25.