Tens of thousands of supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr marched in Baghdad Thursday as a crackdown on his followers raged in southern Iraqi towns and rockets and mortars exploded across the capital. Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki vowed Thursday to continue an assault on militants in the southern city of Basra. “We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth,” Maliki said in a statement. Insurgents fired five rockets into the heavily fortified Baghdad Green Zone Thursday, killing one civilian and wounding 14 others, the US military said. The rockets hit the zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy, around 12:15 pm, causing a major blaze, Iraqi and US officials said. In Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum named after Sadr's slain father, enormous crowds of angry men jammed the main circle chanting and shouting slogans calling for the ousting of US-backed Al-Maliki. “We demand the downfall of the Maliki government. It does not represent the people. It represents Bush and Cheney,” marcher Hussein Abu Ali said. Mass demonstrations were also held in the northern Kadhimiya and Shula districts. More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the government launched a major military operation in the southern city of Basra Tuesday, targeting districts where Sadr's Mehdi Army militia has a strong presence. Fighting there raged afresh Thursday for a third day. Authorities imposed curfews in other Shi'ite towns to halt the spread of violence, which has exposed a deep divide between Shi'ite parties in Maliki's government and Sadr's followers who in many Shi'ite areas rule the streets. The government says it is fighting “outlaws”. Saboteurs blew up one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines from Basra, cutting at least a third of the exports from the city which provides 80 percent of government revenue. US oil prices rose more than $1 a barrel after the blast. A massive mortar bombardment struck the main riverside police base at Basra palace before noon Thursday and heavy shooting broke out in a main commercial street in the city. An Interior Ministry source said 51 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded so far in Basra alone. Basra's police chief survived a roadside bomb. Clashes have spread in the past two days to the southern cities of Kut, Hilla, Diwaniya, Amara and Kerbala. – Agencies , as well as several Shi'ite neighbourhoods of Baghdad. Forty-four people have been killed and 75 wounded in volatile Wasit province, police chief Abdul Hanin Al-Imara said. US warplanes hovered over the provincial capital Kut. US and Iraqi checkpoints near Sadr City came under fire. – Agencies , said US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover. Sadr's aides say his ceasefire is still formally in place. Many of his followers have staged a “civil disobedience” campaign, forcing schools and shops to shut. Sadr has threatened to declare a “civil revolt” if the crackdown is not halted. Mortar bombs and rockets have exploded across the capital for days. A mortar bomb at a Baghdad bus station killed three people and wounded 15. A strike near the U.S. embassy in the fortified Green Zone sent a column of black smoke into the sky. Maliki, who has travelled to Basra to oversee the crackdown, has ordered militants to surrender within three days. He cancelled plans to attend an Arab summit in Syria Saturday. __
