Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has given Shiite militants in the southern Maysan province a week to surrender, an Iraqi defence official said Wednesday.
The deadline for armed groups to surrender starts from Wednesday, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, Mohamed al-Askari, told the Voices of Iraq news agency.
Iraqi troops launched a crackdown nearly a week ago in Amarah, the capital of Maysan, targeting Shiite militants loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, reported dpa.
The operation is the fourth of its kind this year in which al-Maliki sent troops to provinces to clear them of Shiite or Sunni insurgents.
Basra, the predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City in Baghdad and Mosul have been the sites of major security offensives.