Video

Iraqi Shias prepare to bury their dead in the holy city of Najaf. People say at least 100 fresh graves were dug for those killed in the wave of violence that engulfed southern Iraq last week. In Basra there was relative calm on the streets. A stark contrast from the fighting seen in Iraq's second city. A crackdown on Shi'ite militias operating in the city triggered violence across the mainly Shi'ite south. It was stopped nearly a week later, when Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called his fighters off the streets. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT FROM BASRA SAYING: "We have carried out the orders of Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr, who called for pulling out militants of the Mehdi army and Basra is now calm." The move was welcomed but it exposed the weakness of Iraq's armed forces and a deep rift within Iraq's Shi'ite majority. And the locals say it is Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who should be blamed. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WOMAN RESIDENT FROM SADR CITY SAYING: "We elected him and we put him in his seat. He should be taking care of the people. Now, even if they (Mehdi army) pull out and stay quiet, we, the people, will not stay quiet. We, the people will not be quiet even if the Mahdi army is quiet." In Baghdad, where a three-day curfew was mostly lifted, the truce seemed tenuous at best. There were reports of clashes in several neighbourhoods. Rockets and mortar bombs struck the "Green Zone" government and diplomatic compound. But it was here in Sadr City, the east Baghdad slum that is Sadr's main stronghold, that was scene of some of the week's worst fighting. The Interior Ministry said 109 people were killed in Sadr city alone. Scores more died elsewhere in the capital and the south. Iraqis will now be watching to see what happens next, but after enduring five long years of violence, they have become accustomed to expecting the worst. Suranjana Tewari, Reuters.