NAJAF: Radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr congratulated his supporters yesterday for the imminent withdrawal of British forces from the southern city of Basra.The troops are due to leave their last base in Basra and move to an airbase outside the city in the coming weeks, after coming under daily mortar and rocket bombardment from local Shi'ite militias.
British commanders insist they are not being forced out and will leave the city in the hands of the Iraqi security forces but Sadr, in a statement issued by his office in Najaf, claimed the decision as a victory.
"We heard and you heard too, of the intention of British troops to withdraw from our beloved southern Iraq. Congratulations are due to us, to you and to the honest resistance," he said.
Last August, when British troops left their base in the southern town of Amara it was immediately looted by local citizens and Sadr's Mahdi Army militia held a small-scale victory parade.
Now, his Shi'ite militia fighters are among the strongest opponents of US and British forces in Iraq, and have taken the lead in the daily attacks against British bases and convoys in Basra.