Sadrists Capture Provincial Capital in Southern Iraq

Is this the next Fallujah? Juan Cole reports:

Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that the Mahdi Army has taken over the southern city of Kut (Google Earth: 32.52 N 45.82 E) and has surrounded the governor's mansion, trapping the remaining government police in it.

Kut was the scene of a major military disaster for the British in World War I, where Ottoman forces surrounded a large body of mostly Indian British forces and forced them to surrender after a long siege.

Kut is the capital of Wasit province, an area about the size of New Jersey (17 153 km²). Wasit province has a 1997 Census population of 780 000. There are no reliable figures for the population of the city, but an examination of the excellent Google Earth image shows an area for the city of about 17 square kilometers, which suggests a population of perhaps 150 000.