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Amid increasing tensions between militias, Muqtada al-Sadr calls for reforming the PMU

Rival Shiite armed factions took their fight to Iraq’s key port city as leaders officially called for calm and closed offices.

Iraqi mourners attend the funeral of two Saraya al-Salam fighters.
Iraqi mourners attend the funeral of two Saraya al-Salam fighters, an armed faction linked to powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sept. 1, 2022. — HUSSEIN FALEH/AFP via Getty Image

BAGHDAD — Funeral processions had barely been held for the dozens who lost their lives earlier in the week before rival Shiite armed groups continued shedding each other’s blood — this time further south.

At least four people were reportedly killed on Thursday in Iraq’s oil-rich, key southern port city of Basra, though one person close to the government claimed that six had been killed and that the fighting was “ongoing.”

The fight is mostly between two armed groups: Qais al-Khazali’s Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), and powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Saraya al-Salam.

At least two of those killed were reportedly from Saraya al-Salam.

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