U.S., Iraqi forces besiege Shi'ite mosque -police

[Barrett808]

U.S., Iraqi forces besiege Shi'ite mosque -police
By Lutfi Abu Oun

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces with armoured vehicles surrounded a Shi'ite mosque in southeastern Baghdad after dark on Saturday in what appeared to be the latest operation against Shi'ite militias, police said.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military or the Iraqi Interior Ministry but a policeman at the scene outside the Sadrain mosque in the Zafaraniya district said he believed they were trying to arrest members of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army militia.

The mosque is believed to be loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army fighters have been the target of several recent operations by government and U.S. forces, including a major raid on Baghdad's Sadr City area on Friday.

The U.S. military said it captured a major militant suspect accused of kidnappings and murders in that raid, although Shi'ite political sources said a renowned local warlord known as Abu Deraa, whose neighbourhood was targeted, was still at large.

The sources said the raid was part of a hunt for a Sunni Arab lawmaker whose kidnap a week ago in a Shi'ite neighbourhood has prompted a boycott of parliament by her Sunni colleagues.

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