And he continues to wage war on Shiite refugees near Basra.

They will leave behind some 27,000 mainly Shiite Muslim refugees who fled across the allied lines after the their revolt against President Hussein was crushed.

As the rebellion failed, some 40,000 Shiite refugees rushed southward to seek safety with the American forces near the Kuwaiti border.

In March, more than two million Kurdish and Shiite refugees fled after their unsuccessful rebellions in the north and south.

One report said explosions were heard in the Iranian city of Hoveyzeh, opposite vast marshlands where Shiite refugees are massed.

Baghdad also was said to have stationed forces on the Iranian border to block the Shiite refugees from fleeing to Iran.

The Shiite refugees fled to the marshes earlier this summer to escape retribution after a failed uprising against President Hussein.

The Shiite refugees, who include more women, children and old men than fighters, only recently moved into the rundown trailers at the cement plant.

Fighters are members of the local council, and they arrange trash collections and housing for Shiite refugees, often settling them into empty Sunni houses.

This followed United Nations accusations that Iraqi forces were blockading dissident Shiite refugees in the marshes and shooting them.