Iraq PM ready to use force on Basra oil "gangs"

BAGHDAD, May 30 (Reuters) Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will fly to Iraq's second city Basra tomorrow to end faction fighting among fellow Shi'ites and said he is ready to use force against ''gangs'' holding oil exports and other trade to ransom.

''We must restore security in Basra and if anyone defies peaceful solutions then force will be the solution,'' he told Reuters on Tuesday. ''There's no way we can leave Basra, the gateway to Iraq, our imports and exports, at the mercy of criminal, terrorist gangs.

We will use force against these gangs.'' REUTERS SY PM1906