(Adds Rumsfeld comments) By Mariam Karouny and Claudia Parsons BAGHDAD, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Fierce battles between militia gunmen and police in the southern city of Amara on Friday tested the Iraqi government's ability to rein in sectarian groups and U.S.-led plans to hand over control to Iraqis. Several hundred gunmen attacked three police stations and set fire to them before an appeal for calm from Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr restored order, officials said. Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers were brought in to support police in the clashes. The Shi'ite-led Iraqi government is struggling to exert its authority over Shi'ite militias blamed for reprisal killings, and to build a viable police force capable of retaining its independence in areas with deep tribal or sectarian loyalties. The latest tensions came after Washington said the results of its 2-month-old campaign to curb violence in Baghdad through mass reinforcements had been disappointing. That setback and rising U.S. casualties have piled pressure on U.S. President George W. Bush before November mid-term elections. Around 200 to 300 Shi'ite militia gunmen attacked police stations in Amara on Thursday and Friday, and 10 police and 15 militia gunmen were killed, a spokesman for the British military quoted the chief of police as saying. The British handed over responsibility for Amara to Iraqi forces two months ago. National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waeli, sent to Amara to restore order, told Reuters the situation was "serious" but he denied reports the city was totally under the control of the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite militia loyal to Sadr. A leader in the Mehdi Army told Reuters that Sadr had sent a letter to Amara urging calm. It was read out in mosques. "The clashes erupted after the police raided houses and arrested figures in Amara including some from the Mehdi Army two days ago," the leader said. "Now it is quiet, all afternoon the situation has been quiet." "The Mehdi Army do not control the city, the city is for all the Iraqis," the leader added. "The Mehdi Army do not control the police stations and all these reports are false." MAJOR TEST British Major Charlie Burbridge said British forces had provided air surveillance but the situation was being handled with the help of around 700 Iraqi army troops. "Moqtada al-Sadr brought the rogue elements of his militia back in line," Burbridge said on Friday evening, adding that the clashes had been very serious. "It represents the first really major test the Iraqi security forces have faced, and they've passed, just," he said. He said British forces had as a precaution prepared a battle group of around 500 troops to provide assistance if needed. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied it was a mistake to hand over security to Iraqi authorities. "The biggest mistake would be to not pass things over to the Iraqis," he told reporters at the Pentagon. "You may make a judgment that's incorrect with respect to a specific set of responsibilities and you may then have to go in and assist them," he said, but "I think the last thing in the world you'd call it is a strategic error." The central city of Balad, scene of reprisal killings that killed at least 60 in the past week, was also on alert again after mortars killed nine people on Thursday, prompting Shi'ite militias to attack two nearby Sunni villages, police said. Balad and Amara have both been handed over to Iraqi control by U.S. or British forces in recent months. Amara, a city of around 250,000 people, is the provincial capital of Maysan province, the home of the Marsh Arabs persecuted by Saddam Hussein. British forces plan to hand full control of Maysan to Iraqis in the coming months and Burbridge said that was still on track. The White House said on Friday Bush would resist election-year pressure for a major shift in strategy in Iraq despite growing doubts among voters and Republican lawmakers. At least 73 U.S. troops have been killed this month, one of the highest tolls in recent months. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who this week met powerful Shi'ite clerics Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to enlist their support in curbing sectarian violence, ordered Waeli to go to Amara on Friday to try to quell the turmoil. Waeli said the trouble had started with the assassination of the head of police intelligence. "Amara is a tribal town so it turned into a crisis," he said, adding that police neutrality was a problem because some officers were loyal to their tribes. "The government is very serious in not allowing the forces to be loyal to any political group," he said. (Additional reporting Mariam Karouny and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Reuters employees in Balad and Basra)
