(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-28 10:15

Brigadier Eidaan Muttar, Khalaf's deputy, also escaped unhurt in another roadside bomb attack targeting his car in central Basra Wednesday night, a source from the city's operation office said.

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In the city of Kut, some 180 km southeast of Baghdad, clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi security forces have killed 45and injured 85 others, said Maj. Gen. Abdul Hanin al-Amara, a senior commander of the local security troops.

Amara said that his forces were regaining control in many of the neighborhoods.

In Baghdad, dozens of gunmen attacked the house of Tahseen al-Sheikhly, the civil spokesman of the Baghdad security plan, dubbed Enforcing the Law, and kidnapped him in front of his house in the Amin neighborhood.

The attackers seized the arms of Shiekhly's guards and destroyed two of his vehicles outside his house before fleeing the scene, an Iraqi interior ministry source said.

The security plan, which was jointly launched by the US military and the Iraqi government, came into force on February 14 last year, aimed at curbing insurgency and sectarian violence.

In other developments, Mortar attacks on different parts of Baghdad, including the heavily fortified Green Zone, killed one civilian and wounded three.

Around midday, fierce clashes erupted between Mahdi Army militia and Iraqi security forces in the Shiite neighborhood of Tobchi.

The Iraqi authorities imposed a three-day curfew in Baghdad in a bid to curb the surging violence. Iraqi state TV said the curfew will be in effect from 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) to 5:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) next morning.

Thousands of al-Sadr's supporters took to the street in Baghdad, demanding the government to stop attacking Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and release the detained members.

They branded Maliki as an "American agent" and asked him to step down.

The US military, until now, has largely shunned direct involvement, saying that the Iraqi government was carrying out its own responsibility to clamp down on militants and activists.

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