US military denies Iraq report of al-Qaida arrest

Government envoys set strict demands for Shiite militias to end their battles against U.S.-led forces in Baghdad in meetings Thursday, but it was unlikely that militiamen would abide by the conditions.

Thousands of civilians already have fled Sadr City -home to nearly 40 percent of Baghdad's population -and aid groups say some areas are desperately short of food and medicine after seven weeks of street battles.

So far, the clashes are mostly confined to the southern part of the district where U.S. and Iraqi forces are building a barrier -reaching up to 12-feet high -to isolate it and disrupt supply and escape routes for militants.

"We really hope to block the north and the south," said Lt. Col. Tim Albers, an intelligence officer with the Multinational Force in Baghdad and the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division, on Thursday.

The goal of the barrier is to put the "Green Zone," site of the Iraqi government and U.S. embassy, out of range for militia rockets and mortars.

"Within the next two weeks we should be done with the barrier part of the plan," Col. Allen Batschelet, the chief of staff for forces in Baghdad, said Thursday.

The military has said more than 700 rockets and mortars have been fired in recent weeks, but that number has since dropped to just a handful a day.

Except for Sadr City, the rest of Baghdad has been quiet. Since June 2007, there has been a 44 percent decrease in overall attacks by month in the rest of the capital and a 97 percent decrease in sectarian murders. The military did not supply exact numbers.

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Associated Press reporters Bushra Juhi and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report from Baghdad.