Sadrists say loyalist killed, 20 arrested in Diwaniya

DIWANIYA / IraqiNews.com: Joint forces killed a member of the Sadrist bloc, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and arrested 20 others in a raid on different areas of Diwaniya on Thursday, an official from Sadr’s office in the province said. “A joint force from the Iraqi army and police and the U.S. forces raided houses in different areas of Diwaniya, killing a Sadr loyalist and arresting 20 others,” Nidal al-No’mani told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The campaign came on a background of initial vote counting for the provincial council elections, which showed that we have garnered a large number of votes in Diwaniya,” No’mani said. He urged the Iraqi prime minister and the local administration to investigate the arrest campaigns targeting the Sadrists. Meanwhile, a U.S. source from the ECHO camp in Diwaniya told IraqiNews.com over the phone that that a raid by joint Iraqi army and police and U.S. forces resulted in the killing of a “terrorist” who declined to surrender despite warning shots. “The raiding force was planning to arrest him,” the source said, adding “the killed man was carrying out armed operations against U.S. forces and is wanted on charges of murdering civilians in the province”. He pointed out that the Iraqi forces have conducted this operation while the U.S. forces’ role was exclusive to backup. Diwaniya lies 180 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (S) 1