US-led coalition jets bombed Shiite militia positions in the southern city of Basra as prime minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday offered cash to local residents for giving up their arms.
Fresh clashes, however, broke out in Baghdad's Sadr City and Kadhimiyah, two strongholds of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia with whom Iraqi forces are locked in battles in Basra and other regions since Tuesday.
Nearly 170 people have been killed in these clashes since Tuesday, mainly in Basra, Sadr City in Baghdad, the central cities of Hilla and Kut and the southern city of Nasiriyah and its outskirts.
For the first time US-led coalition forces entered the fray since the Iraqi army launched a crackdown on Shiite fighters in Basra by bombing the militia's positions in the city overnight Friday, a British military spokesman said.
Two bombing missions were carried out overnight against specific targets, Major Tom Holloway told AFP.
Holloway said British coalition forces based at Basra airport have also been providing air support and surveillance over the city, and refuelling Iraqi helicopters and transport planes.
"Coalition forces are providing capability in those niche areas that the Iraqi armed forces don't have," Holloway said.
"Particularly we are providing them air power over the top of the city. The Iraqi air force does exist but doesn't yet have fast jets. We are also providing surveillance ...
"And also they have been providing air support in terms of dropping munitions on identified militia targets in the city."
Maliki, whose armed forces are facing the first major test of their authority, has vowed to pursue the crackdown on Shiite gunmen despite stiff resistance from them, protests from sympathisers and mounting casualties.
The crackdown focusing on areas controlled by Sadr's Mahdi Army has severely strained a "freeze" of the militia's activities that the radical cleric ordered last August.
On Friday, Maliki gave Basra residents until April 8 to surrender heavy and medium weapons used against Iraqi army forces in a bid to cut the supply of weapons to the militants.
The prime minister's move was part of a three-pronged effort to break Shiite resistance, along with the imposition of a three-day curfew in Baghdad and precision bombing by the US-led coalition.
On Friday, most of the capital's main roads were deserted as residents observed the curfew, set to stay in place until dawn on Sunday, while the parliament held an emergency session which was attended only by 54 MPs of the total 275.
"All those who have heavy and medium arms, they should surrender them to the security forces and receive money starting from March 28 until April 8," Maliki told Basra residents in a statement issued by his Baghdad office.
Sadeq al-Rikabi, an advisor to Maliki, explained that the offer was for all those who had weapons in their homes and aimed to "take the arms away," while the militants's three-day deadline had now expired.
Rikabi said the 72-hour deadline given to Shiite fighters ended on Friday morning and had been effective from Tuesday -- the day the assault in Basra was launched -- and not from Wednesday when the deadline was announced by Maliki.
"We confirm the objectives of the operation in Basra which is to chase illegal elements and to put all the weapons under the control of the law," Maliki said.
"These weapons create problems for civilians and their property. The government wants to give a chance to solve the problem without having to call upon the wrath of legal action."
On Friday, most of the capital's main roads were deserted as residents observed the curfew, set to stay in place until dawn on Sunday.
But Iraqi and US troops clashed with Shiite gunmen in Sadr City and Kadhimiyah in which nine people were killed, Iraqi security officials said.
Since the Basra assault on Shiite gunmen began, nearly 170 people have been killed across Shiite areas in Iraq.
Fighting has raged in other Shiite strongholds such as the central cities of Kut and Hilla and Nasiriyah and its outskirts in the south, Iraqi and US military officials said.
Sadr City, the bastion of Mahdi Army militia, accounts for a large chunk of the death toll so far and on Friday the US military said it killed 26 "terrorists" in Baghdad the day before, including several in Sadr City.
In Nasiriyah eight people, including five policemen, two gunmen and one civilian, were killed Friday, a local police official said.
Basra has become the theatre of a turf war between the Mahdi Army and two rival Shiite factions -- the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party.
Maliki's offensive drew praise from US President George W. Bush, who called the fighting in Basra a "positive moment" for the development of Iraqi security forces and proof the Baghdad government could defend itself.
