(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-31 19:49

BAGHDAD - The fortified Green Zone in Iraq's capital came under mortar or rocket attack again Monday, despite the call a day before from a radical Shiite cleric for his fighters to stand down.

Iraqis march during a funeral during a sandstorm in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 31, 2008. [Agencies]

A key adviser to Iraq's prime minister, meanwhile, said military operations in an oil-rich southern city besieged by nearly a week of fighting will end within days.

Sami al-Askari also said most of Basra, where the government attempted to crack down on militia fighters, was "under control" a day after Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took his Mahdi Army off the streets.

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Fighting between al-Sadr's followers and Iraqi and coalition troops raged since Tuesday, when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began military operations against the group and vowed to remain in Basra until the mission was accomplished. The battles there sparked violence in other southern cities and in Baghdad.

"Before the end of this week, the operations will come to an end and al-Maliki will be back to Baghdad," said al-Askari, though he gave no exact date for the prime minister's return.

Despite the relative calm that prevailed in Basra, rockets or mortars again landed in the Green Zone, the area housing the US and British embassies along with much of the Iraqi government.

The US Embassy confirmed the attacks and said no serious injuries were reported. The US military said it had no reports of major damage. The Green Zone has come under frequent attack since Easter Sunday. At least two Americans working for the US government have died.

The government of al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, welcomed the move by al-Sadr to call off his fighters. After nearly a week of battling the militia, the Iraqi army had made little headway in Basra and large swaths of the city remain under the Mahdi Army's control.

An estimated 400 people have been killed as fighting spread to Baghdad neighborhoods and other southern cities.

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