American attacks on Mehdi Army cause uproar among Shia

Iraqi government security forces, backed by the US troops and aircraft, moved into the vast Shia slum of al-Sadr City in eastern Baghdad at 3.15am yesterday in an attempt to arrest a commander of the Mehdi Army, the main Shia militia, called Abu Diraa. Iraqi police said nine people were killed including a woman. An Iraqi officer said the Americans had provided lists of people to be arrested in al-Sadr City.

The US army in Iraq is evidently starting a new confrontation with the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which now controls much of Baghdad. Its militiamen have grown in number over the last year as Shia civilians look for protection against Sunni assassins and death squads. "Muqtada is taking over the city," said one Shia yesterday.

At one spot on the Tigris river in al-Qadamiyah in northern Baghdad some 10 to 12 headless bodies, most of which were later identified as Shia, are being washed up every day, said a local source. "In once case, a newly married husband and wife had been tied together before being killed," he said. "In another case a man's head had been cut off and the head of a dog loosely sewn on to his neck."

Much of Baghdad, particularly mixed Sunni-Shia districts, are now embroiled in a sectarian civil war. The Shia allege that the US is reaching out to Sunni insurgents who formerly attacked American troops but are now killing Shia.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1166538.ece