AP: Health minister: 7 Iraqi guards arrested

[Eugene]

Health Minister: 7 Iraqi Guards Arrested

By QAIS AL-BASHIR
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 13, 2006; 2:41 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia,
claimed Sunday that U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise
pre-dawn raid on his office. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear.

Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke open
doors inside the building leading to his office and hauled away the seven men,
who were posted there as night guards.

U.S. officials did not immediately respond to the claim.

"There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was
no reason to arrest them. It is a provocation," said al-Shemari, a Shiite aligned
to the anti-U.S. radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who heads Iraq's biggest Shiite
militia, the Mahdi Army.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/13/AR2006081300054.html

[maddezmom]

1. Iraqi forces raid ministry, smash plot against PM's family

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi and US troops hunting alleged kidnappers raided the health ministry, arresting five suspects as the embattled government stepped up its make-or-break battle against insurgent fighters.

The government also announced that it had arrested a 16-member gang alleged to have been plotting attacks on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's family.

"Acting on an Iraqi citizen's tip regarding kidnap victims, Iraqi forces with US advisers searched the Ministry of Health at about 2:30 am and detained five for further questioning," an official from the US-led coalition said Sunday.

"It is for the benefit of the Iraqi people that these forces conducted the search and detained the suspects for further questioning," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity while a full statement was being prepared.

Following the arrests, ministry workers mounted a small non-violent anti-American protest outside their offices to demand the release of the detainees, described by one official as guards attached to the ministry.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060813/ts_afp/iraq_060813112214

[Barrett808]

2. K&R