Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s increasingly isolated Prime Minister, claimed yesterday his campaign to stamp out illegal armed groups in Basra had been a “success” despite being forced to sue for peace with al-Mahdi Army militia who fought his men to a standstill.

The Prime Minister, whose future is looking uncertain after he staked his reputation on the stalled military offensive, also asked gunmen to return the 50 government cars and armoured vehicles they captured from his forces during a week of fighting that left close to 500 people dead.

Announcing a recruitment drive to provide an extra 10,000 security force members for the militia-dominated oil city, he said he would build on “the stability and success of the security plan which achieved the aim of imposing law in the city and restoring normalcy”. His statement indicated a resolve not to step down despite growing doubts about his judgment. The milita leader, Hojetoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, agreed to order his fighters to stand down only after US and British warplanes and artillery were dragged into the fray on the Prime Minister’s behalf.

Despite a ceasefire agreement with al-Mahdi Army, Mr al-Maliki said his men would still arrest anyone caught illegally carrying guns in public, a move that could trigger renewed clashes.

Iraq timeline: five years of conflict

From accusations that the weapons of mass destruction dossier had been sexed-up to withdrawal of British troops from Basra

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Harith al-Athari, the leading Sadrist in Basra, said yesterday that al-Mahdi militiamen were being “exposed to random arrests and raids, houses of the members were being burnt. This is in violation of what has been agreed upon.” Another prominent Sadrist, Sheikh Hazim al Arraji, accused the security forces of extrajudicial executions during the recent fighting. He said seven al-Mahdi Army fighters were arrested and shot in Karbala, a shrine city south of Baghdad, and another six were executed in Mahmoudiya, a small town just south of the capital. There was no independent confirmation of the killings.

Sheikh al-Arraji said the Sadrists were still committed to the ceasefire but accused government forces of violations of the tentative truce.

In Sadr City, the crumbling Shia slum where al-Mahdi Army is still the absolute law, an American helicopter fired a missile at gunmen who attacked a US tank, killing six people. Sadr City police said snipers - whom they accused of being American soldiers - opened fire on a funeral procession, killing four people. One of the dead was said to be an old man shot in the forehead as he opened up his shop, another an elderly woman who died after a bullet hit her in the face in a market.

An army spokesman denied the involvement of US troops in the incident, but locals were furious at the shooting. “Moqtada made a peaceful initiative and we listened to him, but it seems the Americans are not listening to reason, they want to fight. We cannot stand it any more, our people are being killed for nothing,” a local tribal leader, Sheikh Abu Zaydan, shouted.

Despite his vows to tough out the stinging failure of his Basra campaign, Mr al-Maliki hit a plaintive note in a televised address in which he pleaded for captured army vehicles to be returned to his troops.

“We heard that one of the political parties has taken 50 vehicles that belong to the Government,” he said. “By God I will not get out of Basra unless I get them back, no matter what it takes ... I am ready to give cars for all those who have taken government vehicles if they give those cars back, so that we can keep the rule of law.” As part of his plan to rebuild Basra, he added that services would be improved for citizens and revealed a wildly ambitious plan to turn government-owned palaces into tourist destinations in the war-scarred, rubbish-filled city where criminal gangs and Islamic fundamentalists exert huge influence and carry out regular murders.

The fighting last month helped to make March the deadliest month for Iraqis since last summer, according to figures from Associated Press. At least 1,247 Iraqis were killed - nearly double the tally for February and the biggest monthly toll since August, when 1,956 people died violently.

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