IRAQ: Mehdi Army in show of force in Baghdad - Reuters

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Mehdi Army in show of force in Baghdad
Ahmed Rasheed and Waleed Ibrahim, Reuters

Iraq cleric's militia in show of force in Baghdad


BAGHDAD, March 24 (Reuters) - Members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-
Sadr's Mehdi Army militia appeared in a show of force in a number of
Baghdad neighbourhoods on Monday and forced shop owners to close,
witnesses said.

Witnesses and Interior Ministry officials said Mehdi Army fighters
spread through five districts in southern and western Bagdad, ordering
shop owners to close.

In one neighbourhood, they closed the roads with flaming tyres.
Witnesses said the militia had declared the start of a civil
disobedience campaign.

There were no reports of any clashes with Iraqi or U.S. forces, but
residents said the situation was very tense.

In at least one of the districts, southern Bayaa, witnesses said the
Mehdi Army fighters were walking about unarmed, although guns could be
seen in their vehicles.

An official in Sadr's office in one of the districts told Reuters that
the Mehdi Army fighters were protesting against "U.S. raids and the
arrests of innocent people". The militia has kept a low profile since
Sadr called a ceasefire last August and extended it last month, a move
U.S. commanders say has helped to sharply reduce sectarian violence
between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Muslims.

But gunbattles in Baghdad and the southern city of Kut last week have
raised fears that it may be unravelling at a time when the U.S.
military is withdrawing 20,000 troops.

Mehdi Army fighters, however, have complained that U.S. and Iraqi
forces have exploited the truce to carry out indiscriminate arrests.
U.S. commanders say they only target Mehdi Army cells that have
ignored Sadr's ceasefire order.

"This does not mean the ceasefire is over. Such a decision is for
Moqtada al-Sadr to take," Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of the Sadrist
bloc in parliament, told Reuters, referring to the disobedience
campaign.

On Sunday, the head of Sadr's office in northern Shula district gave
the Iraqi government 24 hours to stop "all detention operations" and
to release all Sadrists in detention.

"PROTESTS TO CONTINUE"

"U.S. forces mistakenly thought that the extension of the truce was a
sign of weakness of the Mehdi Army. That is not true, they are still
strong, but we are obeying the orders of Moqtada al-Sadr," Sheikh
Mahmoud al-Sabihawi, an official in Sadr's office in Baghdad's Amil
district, said on Monday.

"We will continue the protests until the arrests stop," he said.

Interior Ministry officials said Mehdi Army fighters had appeared on
the streets of al-Ilaam, Shurta, Bayaa and Amil districts in southern
Baghdad and in Washash in the western section of the capital in an
apparently co-ordinated action.

"They forced shop owners to close, saying they were calling for civil
disobedience. The situation is very tense. There are rumours that the
situation is going to deteriorate," said Abu Adel, 55, a civil
servant, and a resident of al-Ilaam district.

Adel Alwan, a resident of Amil district, said shops had also been
closed in his area and Mehdi Army gunmen could be seen standing on
street corners.

"I left the street and went back to my house and locked the door. I am
anticipating the Americans will come and clash with them," he told
Reuters. (Writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)