Iraqi forces are conducting an offensive against Shiite fighters in Amara, a stronghold of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. AFP: Iraqi police and soldiers swept house to house through the southern city of Amara and surrounding Maysan province on Thursday in a new crackdown on Shiite fighters and illegal weapons.Unnoticed by the US media is the fact that this is an Iraqi, not American, operation. Above photo (credit: AFP) shows Iraqi forces patrolling a road leading to the southern city of Amara.
The operation, called Basha'ar al-Salam (Promise of Peace), backed by US troops, was launched overnight after the expiry of a four-day deadline to militiamen to surrender themselves and their weapons.
Sixteen wanted suspects have been arrested so far, including several key figures from the Shiite radical movement of Moqtada al-Sadr, Maysan police spokesman Colonel Mehdi al-Asadi told AFP.
A top security official said one of the detained suspects was Sadr aide and Amara mayor Raaf Abdul Jabbar.
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