US forces regain control of Kut as rebel cleric warns Bush

AMERICAN forces regained control of the southern Iraqi city of Kut seized this week by a rebellious Shi’ite militia as radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, warned America they were now fighting an “entire Iraqi nation.”

In a symbol of the state of Iraq a year after the US invasion, a portrait of al-Sadr whose militia has rebelled across the south was hung yesterday on the statue in Firdous Square in Baghdad, where one year ago yesterday marines toppled a statue of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

Soldiers imposed a curfew around the square, saying al-Sadr's militia had threatened to bomb nearby sites and warning that anyone seen carrying weapons would be shot. At least two armoured vehicles were positioned in the square.