Shiite militia briefly seizes Iraqi city

updated 2:25 p.m. ET Oct. 20, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Shiite militia run by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr briefly seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country’s powerful, unofficial armies.

The militiamen later withdrew from the streets after Iraqi soldiers and mediators arrived, lifting their siege of police headquarters under a temporary truce negotiated with an al-Sadr envoy. It was not clear whether the cleric knew about his militia’s planned takeover in advance.

British military spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge said 600 Iraqi army soldiers had retaken control of the city, but not before the 25 gunmen and police were killed in violence that began Thursday night. The Iraqi army dispatched two companies to Amarah, a city of 750,000, from Basra, the south’s largest city.

“They’ve applied a solution and at the moment it’s holding,” Burbridge said. “At the moment, it’s tense but calm,” he said.

Britain had 500 soldiers on standby if called for, Burbridge said, saying British military authorities were “confident that they’ve (Iraqi security forces) responded as best as they can.”

Mahdi Army fighters had stormed three main police stations Friday morning, residents said, planting explosives that flattened the buildings in Amarah, a city just 30 miles from the Iranian border that was under British command until August, when it was returned to Iraqi government control.

About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were patrolling in commandeered police vehicles, witnesses said. Other fighters set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.

Hooded gunmen swept city
AP Television News footage showed thick, black smoke billowing from behind the barricades of a police station in Amarah. Much of the smoke came from fires set to vehicles that were parked within the compound. Hooded gunmen roamed the streets, some of whom seemed to be directing the others, while a stream of gunshots could be heard in the background.

Some streets were entirely deserted except for the gunmen, but on others children ran around, pointing out the source of gunfire, and a couple of bicyclists stopped to look at the smoke that enveloped the police station.

The events in Amarah — involving a dispute between the Mahdi Army and local security forces believed controlled by the rival Badr Brigade militia — highlight the threat of wider violence between rival Shiite factions, who have entrenched themselves among the majority Shiite population and are blamed for killings of rival Sunnis.

Shiite militia violence, mainly against the country’s Sunni minority, has ravaged Iraq since February when a Shiite holy place in Samara was blown up. The violence has been on the increase, but this is the first recent fighting that has pitted Shiites against one another on such a scale.

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