20 al-Sadr followers killed by American forces
Iraq-USA, Military, 3/27/2006

Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Darraji, member of the office of al-Shaheed al-Sadr in Baghdad, said that the American forces killed more than 18 worshippers inside a mosque north of the capital Baghdad.

The Iraqi police said that the clashes erupted after militias of al-Mahdi army, followers of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who tried to prevent the American forces from entering Husenieh of al-Mustafa in Oro quarters. One of the aid keepers said that 18 bodies were found around the mosque.

In a telephone call with al-Jazeera satellite TV, Hazem al-Araji explained that the American forces which blocked all roads leading to the region detained large number of worshippers in al-Husieneh and he deplored the attack and asked the Iraqi government to give explanations.

He added that the found bodies were hand tightened, accusing the American forces of burning the mosque and its contents of the holy Quran.

Speakers in the name of the American army did not comment on the incident immediately. The Iraqi police said that the soldiers were trying to arrest a specific person.

The attack comes one day after the acts of detentions in the lines of the Sadri trend in the cities of Basra and al-Amara in south Iraq.

In Najaf, the police said that mortars shelling fell on the quarters where the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr lives and the attack resulted in injuring two of his personal guards.

Today, a New York Times (NYTimes.com) report quoted Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, urging on Saturday Iraqi leaders to crack down on militias saying "More Iraqis are dying from the militia violence than from the terrorists..The militias need to be under control."

The New York Times report said "both Shiites and Sunnis have militias. But the Shiite militias are much bigger, much better organized and, most critically, much better connected to the Iraqi security forces."

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