Shiite militiamen kill 4 police officers By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Militiamen loyal to an anti-American cleric re-emerged Monday in the southern city of Amarah, hunting down and killing four policemen from a rival militia in a brutal Shiite-on-Shiite settling of scores.
The Iraqi army set up a few roadblocks but did not interfere in the movement of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters after police fled the streets. The latest attacks came despite a public call by al-Sadr to halt the tribal vendetta, suggesting that splinter groups were developing within his militia.
The spread of revenge killings among Shiites in their southern heartland has opened a new and ominous front as American forces struggle to control insurgent and sectarian bloodshed to the north — especially in Baghdad.
In the capital, the U.S. military reported that a soldier was listed as missing Monday night and that American and Iraqi forces were scouring the area where he was last seen. The missing soldier is an Army translator, and the initial report is that he may have been abducted, said a military official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because the information was not cleared for release.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061024/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq 
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