Al-Maliki has offered a reward for weapons that are handed over to the government [AFP]

Violence continued a day after Nuri al-Maliki said that fighters allied to al-Sadr would receive a reward if they hand in their weapons by April 8.
 
"Sadr has told us not to surrender our arms except to a state that can throw out the occupation," Haider al-Jabari, a member of the Sadr movement's political bureau, said.
 
At least 130 people across Iraq have died in clashes sparked by Monday's Iraqi military crackdown in Basra.
 
Iraqi police said that eight civilians were killed and seven wounded in an air raid on a house in Basra by US aircraft on Saturday.
 
The US military said it was looking into the report. Both US and British military aircraft have provided air support to Iraqi forces in southern Iraq.
 
Sadr City raid

Air support
 
In Basra, US-led forces entered the fighting for the first time, carrying out bombing raids in the city overnight, a British military spokesman said.
 
Major Tom Holloway said that British forces based at Basra airport had been providing air support and surveillance over the city, as well as refuelling Iraqi helicopters and transport aircraft.

Parliament set up a committee led by the Sunni Arab speaker to try to mediate an end to the violence, Bassem Sharif, a member of the Fadhila party, said.

However, the country's largest Shia bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), boycotted the emergency session, arguing that the crackdown in the south is a question of law and order, not legislative policy.

The Dawa party of al-Maliki, who is personally supervising the military operation in southern Iraq, is a member of the UIA.

Falah Shanshal, an MP from the Sadrist bloc, told Al Jazeera that al-Maliki's offer to reward fighters for turning over their weapons was "a cheap stunt".

"This is the approach of tyrants ... they are not achieving anything in Basra and they are relying on the occupations air power and those in Basra are collaborating with the occupations to kill their own people," he said.

Al-Maliki has pledged "no retreat" in the fight against Shia militia forces.

George Bush, the US president, said that the violence in Iraq was a "defining moment" for the country and a key test for al-Maliki's government.

"This is a test and a moment for the Iraqi government which strongly has supported prime minister Maliki's actions," he said.

"It is an interesting moment for the people of Iraq because in order for this democracy to survive they must have confidence in their government's ability to protect them and to be even-handed."

Fierce clashes

Fierce clashes erupted in the southern city of Nasiriyah early on Friday between Iraqi forces and Shia fighters, killing at least four policemen, a local police official said.

Police and hospital officials said five people died in a US raid on Sadr City [AFP]

In the southern city of Kut, 45 people were reported dead and 87 wounded from at least three days of fighing.

Helicopters dropped leaflets on Basra calling on residents to help the government in its fight "to rid Basra of outlaws".

Few journalists have been able to travel to the southern city, but witnesses said that Basra's streets were deserted - with shops and businesses shut.

Hassan, a resident of Basra, said: "For two days now, we woke up to sounds of explosion - we have never witnessed such huge attacks in Basra."

He said all roads have been blocked and Mahdi Army fighters attacked Iraqi forces from residential and commercial blocks.

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