Five more Sadrists detained in Iraq militia crackdown

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AFP

AMARA, Iraq (AFP) - At least five aides of hardline Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr were detained in a crackdown on militiamen in southern Iraq, renewing tensions Friday between Baghdad and the cleric's supporters.

"Five officials from the provincial council who represent the Sadr movement have been arrested for aiding the militia," Maysan province police spokesman Mehdi al-Asadi told AFP.

Abdul Karim Khalaf, a director with the Interior Ministry, said Friday that 20 policemen were among those arrested overnight in the city of Amara, capital of the southern Maysan province where the crackdown is taking place.

Amara mayor Rafa Abdul Jabbar, a member of the anti-US Sadr movement, was detained on Thursday along with 15 other criminal suspects, officials said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080620/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestamara

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Iraqi crackdown angers cleric's supporters

AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Supporters of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr accused Iraqi security forces on Friday of heavy-handed action in a crackdown in the southern city of Amara, calling it a "clear provocation."

Adnan al-Selawi, head of the Sadr movement's office in Amara, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, said the Shi'ite cleric's supporters had hoped the security sweep in the city, which began on Thursday, would be professional.

"But unfortunately we found many breaches and violations," he told Reuters, accusing security forces of insulting and harassing civilians, random shooting and beating people.

The crackdown by the Iraqi army and police, backed by U.S. forces, is the latest phase in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's drive to impose law and order in Iraq.

Read more here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080620/wl_nm/iraq_dc

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

1. This is not helpful, at all. al-Sadr is considered a defender of the poor/oppressed/disadvantaged.

Neither Iraq or the U.S. (whom I will assume is directing this action) will benefit by behaving as dictators against these people who, btw, tend to be the LEAST radical or 'hardline'.

It's just another :wtf: moment in this illegal war and occupation.