BASRA, Iraq, Aug 9 (AFP) - Shiite Muslim militiamen loyal to Moqtada Sadr attacked a British military convoy in Basra, destroying a vehicle without causing casualties, as the radical cleric's aides in the southern city threatened to turn it into another Najaf.
A spokesman for British troops said armed militia fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy at about 2:00 pm (1000 GMT), damaging a Land Rover without causing casualties.
The attack occurred in the centre of the city, a few hundred meters (yards) from Sadr's office
Two vehicles, including a Land Rover, were seen burning at the scene as about 100 armed militiamen fanned out around the area.
Militiamen were also out in force in the city's suburbs.
This came after Salam al-Maliky, Sadr's representative in the city and a member of the provincial authority, threatened to fight for the secession of the three southern provinces of Basra, Dhiqar and Maysan from the rest of Iraq if US troops did not withdraw from Najaf.
Another Sadr aide, Asaad al-Basri, warned that "Basra would be turned into another Najaf" if the US military did not pull out of the holy city further north.
Fierce clashes have raged in Najaf between Sadr's militia, and US and Iraqi forces over the past five days, sparking violence across Shiite central and southern Iraq.