"Those who have heavy and medium weapons, explosives or sniper guns, must hand them over to the security forces over the next four days until June 18 in return for cash," Maliki said in a statement issued late on Saturday.

He said those who are accused of crimes but "do not have blood of Iraqis on their hands" must also report to the security forces within four days.

Maliki said that after the deadline expires the military will start search operations on June 19.

"As part of our continuing efforts to impose security and law and putting an end to the chaos of crimes, we have decided that from today the province of Maysan should be without arms," he said.

Ahead of the pending crackdown in Maysan, a groundswell of Iraqi and US forces began moving into the provincial capital of Amara on Saturday for an operation the local authorities said would target rebel groups.

Tanks were rumbling around the city as soldiers sought to restrict traffic flow with checkpoints on main avenues, an AFP reporter said.

The Iraqi defence ministry refused to provide details on troop numbers only saying that enough special forces, air force and ground troops had been deployed.

"The prime minister is giving a chance to armed groups to hand in their weapons and explosives and to clarify their status," ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said at a press briefing in Baghdad.

"This operation is to disarm them and give government buildings back to the government," he said, indicating that several buildings and other properties owned by the government had been seized by militias in the past few years.

When the deadline expires the next step will be "in the hands of the field commanders," he added.

British troops transferred security control of Maysan to Iraqi forces in April 2007, but peace in the province, and Amara in particular, has remained fragile, with intense Shiite infighting.

Militiamen from radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army had virtually seized control of Amara soon after the city was transfered to the Iraqis.

Amara, located close to the Iranian border, is thought by US-led forces to be a primary channel for weapons flowing into Iraq from its overwhelmingly Shiite neighbour.

Maliki launched a similar assault against rival Shiite militias, mainly the hardline anti-US Mahdi Army, in the main southern city and oil hub of Basra in March.

It triggered streetbattles between the militiamen and security forces in Basra and other Shiite regions that left hundreds of people dead.

Sadr's chief spokesman Salah al-Obeidi voiced concern that the Amara assault would target Sadrists, followers of the powerful Shiite movement led by the firebrand cleric.

"We have big fears that this campaign could be directed against Sadrists. So we have offered our help to the government but we have not received an answer from them," Obeidi told AFP.

"We do not want Basra events to be repeated in Amara," Obeidi said, urging the government to promote dialogue with local tribal leaders as was done in an operation last month in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

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