The New York Times via Iran Focus. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 16 — Iraqi security forces and British troops fought Shiite militias and tribesmen in on Wednesday in sustained battles that left two policemen and a dozen militiamen dead. The violence underscored the tenuous grip the Iraqi government maintains even in regions not under the sway of Sunni Arab insurgents. In Basra, a gun battle erupted between Iraqi Army troops and members of the dominant local tribe, the Bani Asad, apparently angered by the killing on Tuesday of a tribal leader, Faisal Raji al-Asadi, government officials in Basra said. In a battle that lasted the better part of an hour, tribesmen clad in black clothing fired fusillades of bullets and grenades at the provincial government building, local police and government officials said, and eventually occupied the parts of the government complex.
“The building was in the hands of Bani Asad tribe,” an Iraqi government official in Basra said in a telephone interview, speaking over the sustained crackle of gunfire in the background. He said that the fighting, which killed six, including two policemen and two tribesmen, started because the tribe believed that the government was involved in Mr. Asadi’s killing.