Rice on surprise Iraq visit after 'open war' threat

Baghdad: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, a day after Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr threatened to launch an "open war" against the US-backed government.

Six people were killed in overnight clashes between Sadr's gunmen and US and Iraqi forces in the cleric's East Baghdad enclave, the sprawling Sadr City slum, police said.

Rice praised Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's security efforts and said that she was in Iraq to help promote reconciliation among factions.

Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers last month that has led to the worst fighting in Iraq in nearly a year at a time when the United States is bringing home extra troops sent under last year's "surge" strategy.

In a statement issued late on Saturday, Sadr, who launched two uprisings against US forces in 2004 but had declared a ceasefire last year, threatened to unleash tens of thousands of Mehdi Army fighters on Iraqi and American troops.

"I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government," Sadr said. "Either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government," he added, referring to Saddam Hussain's fallen regime.

"If they don't come to their senses and curb the infiltrated militias, then we will declare an open war until liberation."

Sadr's movement accuses other Shi'ite parties of merging their own militias into the Iraqi security forces, especially in southern Shi'ite Iraq where various factions are competing for influence in a region home to most of Iraq's oil output.

Iraqi forces, backed by a thunderous bombardment from US warplanes and British artillery, encountered little resistance on Saturday when they moved in to seize control of a Sadr bastion in the southern city of Basra.

But Sadr's Mahdi Army has put up a fierce fight in east Baghdad for weeks against Iraqi forces, who are backed by US ground troops and air strikes. The fighting in the Sadr City slum has claimed hundreds of lives since last month.

The anti-American cleric's threat dramatically raises the stakes in his confrontation with Maliki, who has threatened to ban Sadr's movement from the political process unless he disbands his militia.

Sadr backed Maliki's rise to power in 2006, but the youthful cleric split with the prime minister, a fellow Shiite, a year ago, in part for refusing to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

In Sadr's Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City, one Mahdi Army commander said on Saturday night that he was "thrilled" about the cleric's statement.

"We will wait until tomorrow to see the response of the government. Otherwise they will see black days like they have never seen before in their life."