...the Iraqi army, camped on the edge of Amarah, was doing nothing...

[NNN0LHI]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15389060 /

Shiite militia resurfaces, kills 4 Iraqi police

Army troops said to be camped outside Amarah during violence

Updated: 33 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite militiamen loyal to an anti-American Shiite cleric re-emerged in the troubled southern city of Amarah on Monday, dragging four policemen aligned with a rival Shiite militia from their homes and killing them.

Witnesses said the Iraqi army, camped on the edge of the city, was doing nothing to stop the resurgence of Shiite-on-Shiite violence. Iraq’s leaders sent a force of about 500 soldiers to Amarah late last week after Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militiamen stormed the city and attacked police stations, manned primarily by loyalists of the rival Badr Brigades, also a Shiite militia.

At least 25 fighters and police died in those gunbattles before politicians intervened and won a promise from the Mahdi Army gunmen to leave the streets. Meanwhile, virtually all of the Amarah police force went into hiding.