Five more Sadrists detained in Iraq militia crackdown

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

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....