Middle East

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Death Squad Leaders Seized in Baghdad

(AP Photo/Mahmoud al-Badri)
A man passes by cars destroyed in a car bomb explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2007. A parked car bomb went off in central Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, killing at least two people and injuring another four, police said.

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By BRIAN MURPHY, The Associated Press
Feb 27, 2007 4:00 PM (39 mins ago)
Current rank: # 296 of 15,729 articles

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led strike forces seized suspected Shiite death squad bosses Tuesday in raids that tested the fragile bonds between the government and a powerful militia faction allowing the Baghdad security crackdown to move ahead.

The sweeps through the Sadr City slum were part of highly sensitive forays into areas loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has ridiculed the 2-week-old campaign for failing to halt bombings by suspected Sunni insurgents against Shiite civilians.

Al-Sadr withdrew his powerful Mahdi Army militia from checkpoints and bases under intense government pressure to let the security push go forward. But the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also worries that al-Sadr could pull his support if he feels his militiamen are being squeezed in Baghdad. (link)

Labels: Iraq, Middle East, TWoT, war