AMARA, June 14: Iraqi forces backed by US troops have poured into the southern Shia city of Amara in a fresh offensive to drive militiamen out of the violence-wracked area, security officials said on Saturday.

Large numbers of heavily-armed soldiers have taken up positions in and around the city ahead of an operation that local police said would target “outlaws”.

“Many Iraqi and American troops are everywhere inside and outside Amara waiting for the start of the security operation,” a local police official told AFP.

“The operations will target outlaws.” An AFP reporter confirmed large troop movements in the city which lies close to the porous border with Iran and that US-led forces believe is a major conduit for weapons.

Iraqi and US soldiers thronged through Amara’s main roads, setting up security checkpoints and distributing leaflets urging people to stay indoors and remain calm.

“Stay home for your safety and do not participate (in the fighting),” one leaflet said.

In the city centre, residents rushed to markets to stock up on food and water while hospitals went on alert.

“Everybody is worried. If this operation takes a long time, it may cause lot of casualties,” said Amel Salman, 48, a mother of five. “I have bought food items and drinking water in case there is a curfew or fighting.” Fellow Amara resident Mohammed Karim said he hoped the operation would cause “no civilian casualties.”

A US military spokesman in Baghdad, Sergeant Brooke Murphy, refused to provide details of the operation, but said it was being led by Iraqi security forces.

British military spokesman in Basra Major Tom Holloway said only that “Iraqi security forces continue to conduct operations throughout the British areas of operations.” British troops transferred security control of Maysan province of which Amara is the capital to Iraqi forces in April 2007, but the province, and Amara in particular, has witnessed intense Shia infighting.

Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia said it has offered support to the Iraqi forces in Amara in a bid to avoid an upsurge in violence.

“We have expressed to the committee of the Shia coalition that we work with, that we are able to cooperate with them in order to make the operation succeed,” Sadr’s spokesman Salah al-Obeidi told AFP.

Iraqi media reports say security in Amara has improved over the past few months but that many militiamen are believed to be hiding out in the city of around 350,000 people.

The reports say a large number of armed groups sought refuge in Amara after fleeing the main southern port city of Basra where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a military assault in March.

Hundreds of people were killed in the Basra crackdown and the ensuing violence that erupted between militiamen and Iraqi and US security forces in other Shia areas of the country, especially Baghdad’s Sadr City.

The Basra crackdown mainly targeted Mahdi Army militiamen.—AFP