A curfew has been imposed on Baghdad amid continuing clashes between Shia militias and Iraqi security forces.The curfew will last from 2300 (2000 GMT) on Thursday until 0500 on Sunday to "protect civilians", officials say. More than 130 people have died since a clampdown on Shia militias in the southern city of Basra started on Tuesday. Unrest has spread to Baghdad.
Earlier US President George W Bush praised Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki's decision to order the crackdown. Heavy fighting between the Shia Mehdi Army, led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, has continued in Basra for a third day, with violence in other parts of southern Iraq. Late on Thursday, Sadr called for a political solution to the crisis.
In a statement relayed by his aide Hazem al-Aaraji, he said he wants "everyone to pursue political solutions and peaceful protests and a stop to the shedding of Iraqi blood". Mr Maliki earlier vowed that he would continue the fight against the militias for as long as was necessary.
