IRAQ - Aug 2 - Thousands Of Shi'ites March In Baghdad.

Thousands of Shi'ite civilians charge with guarding neighbourhoods in Iraq marched through Baghdad in a show of force likely to stir passions in a country ravaged by sectarian violence. Young men in civilian uniforms and headbands, all members of what is known as the popular committees, chanted as a speaker called on them to crush "terrorists" and loyalists of ousted Pres Saddam Hussein leading a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government. "Step on terrorism", he said. The crowd included members of the Badr Organisation, one of the armed Shi'ite groups Sunni Arabs accuse of running militia death squads, a charge they deny. "We have to benefit from this wide popular base and the state and Iraqi people should form these popular regional committees from the best of our young men to face terrorism", Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most power Shi'ite leaders, told a crowd. "They will defend people of districts; Sunnis, Shi'ites, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. They do not differentiate between anybody. They will provide support for the official security apparatus". Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, whose reconciliation plan has failed to ease sectarian bloodshed, has promised to disband militias that many fear will push the country to civil war. "The first enemy is the Baathist Saddam loyalists and their henchmen the Islamic extremists", said Hakim. Officially, the event was held to mark the third anniversary of the death of Hakim's brother, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, in a bombing in the southern city of Najaf. But the speeches also covered some of the most explosive issues in Iraq, such as federalism, which is opposed by Sunnis who fear it will leave them deprived of oil in resource-poor central Iraq. "We believe that implementation of a federal system in Iraq will achieve justice and rebuild Iraq and guarantee the unity of the Iraqi people and land", said Hakim. Hours before he spoke, three roadside bombs exploded in central Baghdad near a group of labourers seeking work, killing three people and wounding nine, police sources said. In Baquba, north of Baghdad, gunmen killed the chief of the traffic police, Ahmed Abdel Hussein, and one of his bodyguards. The violence came a day after bombings and shootings killed up to 61 people across Iraq, including at least 26 soldiers.