Four militants were killed in reprisal attacks between rival Shiite militia groups in southern Iraq, two security officials said Thursday, after violent clashes in Baghdad brought the country to the precipice of street warfare.
Iraqi security forces were swiftly deployed in the southern oil-rich city of Basra to contain the violence that erupted overnight between an armed faction of powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Asaib Ahl al-Haq paramilitary group, led by a key, Iran-backed rival.
