Raids target Iraq militias: 2 rebel leaders caught in separate operations

[ECH1969]

Iraqi and U.S. troops arrested a commander of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr's militia and clashed with militants in the cleric's eastern Baghdad neighborhood Friday, an apparent attempt to crack down on militias that have fueled sectarian violence across Iraq.

Adnan al-Unaybi, a top al-Mahdi Army leader, was arrested at his home near the central city of Hillah. Al-Unaybi allegedly engineered two roadside bomb attacks against multinational forces this spring, spied for Iran and smuggled weapons into Iraq, including SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, the U.S. military said.

In another early-morning raid, in Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City neighborhood, Iraqi troops backed by U.S. aircraft killed or wounded 30 to 40 militants in a 43-minute firefight that culminated in the arrest of another insurgent leader.

The U.S. military said the man captured in the Sadr City raid oversaw several insurgent cells in Baghdad responsible for roadside bomb attacks and car bomb blasts directed at Iraqi and multinational security forces. He also is responsible for the slayings of two Iraqi soldiers and is linked to a "punishment committee" that carried out vigilante acts against perceived enemies, the U.S. military said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0607080201jul08,1,409268.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

[leftchick]

1. Baghdad buzzing with talk about 'Shiite Zarqawi'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060708/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestshiiteus_060708132059


BAGHDAD (AFP) - Sadr City and Internet bulletin boards buzzed with talk that a US-Iraqi raid on the poor Shiite district that killed nine was targeting a militiaman nicknamed the "Shiite Zarqawi".

There were suggestions that the unnamed "high-level insurgent leader" US forces said they had captured in Friday's nighttime raid on the industrial "Kisra wa Atash" neighbourhood in the northern fringes of Sadr city was a shadowy and brutal Shiite militiaman known as Abu Deraa.

The operation, which Iraqi security sources said lasted for about four hours, also wounded about 30 people and resulted in heavy damage to buildings in the area.

Residents insisted that Abu Deraa did not live in the neighbourhood and that during the raid US and Iraqi forces arrested eight people, all civilians including an elementary school teacher.

"There is no Abu Deraa here -- all of those detained were innocent civilians," Ali Abdul Jalil, the owner of a car workshop in the area said Saturday.

[Monkeyman]

4. Get Ready For Iraq to get worst

American attacks om Mehdi Army has cause a swift reaction among Shia today anger has moved to the streets. This is a major sign the US will confront the Mehdi Army. The Shia cleric have called the attacks an act of war on the Shia. So bottem line no troops will be coming home soon

[Massachusetts]

2. Raids target Iraq militias: 2 rebel leaders caught in separate operations

Thank goodness the end of the Bushco war must be near.....

[arewenotdemo]

3. "Multinational forces"

From the same geniuses that brought the world "WMD".

What a steaming crock.