US clashes with Iraqi militia in Diwaniya

US and Iraqi troops engaged in fierce fighting with Shiite militiamen in southern Iraq on Apr. 7, the second day of clashes that have raised the specter of a resurgence by the Mahdi Army. As combat aircraft zoomed overhead, US and Iraqi troops fought the militia in street shoot-outs and hunted down fighters in house-to-house raids in what the US military said was an attempt to wrest control of the city of Diwaniya from loyalists of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The US troops had been called down from Baghdad to reinforce the Iraqi army's 8th Division and the region's Polish-led soldiers. It was the third major clash between US-allied forces and the Shiite militia in Diwaniya in the past eight months. By the end of the day, 39 people had been detained in the operation, said Maj. Eric Verzola, a spokesman for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. He said a US air strike killed one person who was spotted launching a rocket-propelled grenade at military aircraft, bringing the two-day death toll to four. Other officials offered different casualty figures. Hameed Jiati, director of the Diwaniya Health Department, said 16 people had been killed over two days and 45 injured. Police said 14 people were killed and 24 injured on Apr. 7, while a Sadr spokesman said five people were killed, including two Mahdi Army fighters. A local hospital source and a resident said six people, including two children and a woman, were killed in the missile strike on a home in the center of the city. US military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said one person had been killed when a warplane fired on gunmen carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Bleichwehl said the troops faced "steady resistance through the day" from Sadr's militiamen. "The [air strike] was initiated by a tip that was called in by a local citizen. We had visual confirmation that there was a hostile target. There was no collateral damage," he said. The fighting began before dawn on Apr. 6, after US helicopters dropped pamphlets on the city warning residents and police to stay indoors or risk being shot. The raids were concentrated in five Diwaniya neighborhoods considered Mahdi Army hubs. Residents said the street battles were less intense the following day and that the troops were instead focusing on raids. Faisal Waleed, 33, a tire shop owner, said gunmen wearing green headbands emblazoned with the word "Mahdi" or in black clothing–the Mahdi Army uniform–had been cruising the streets of his militia-dominated neighborhood but had vanished by the second day of fighting. Spokesmen for the Mahdi Army in Diwaniya said the militiamen had retreated to their homes and said that some fighters might act out of self-protection. It was unclear whether the militants were following orders to stand down. "The occupation forces are raiding the homes of the Mahdi Army members, and those members are defending themselves," said Abdul Razak al-Nidawi, a Sadr spokesman. "Of course, we obey the orders of our leader, Sayyid Moqtada al-Sadr," he said, "but there is a limit to our patience and self-restraint." "We have instructions from his eminence, Mr. President Moqtada, to defend ourselves in our houses, not in the streets," said Mounthir al-Quzueeni, 29, a taxi driver who identified himself as a member of the Mahdi Army. Quzueeni said he had heard the order to fight from the local Sadr office. But he also said he was following an order from Sadr's late father, a revered religious leader killed in 1999, to resist all US, Israeli or British forces. "We won't give ourselves to the occupation. We will die defending ourselves," he said. US officials say the Mahdi Army frequently pounds a nearby US military base with rockets and mortar fire and plants bombs along the surrounding roads. The raids also were targeting Diwaniya police officers suspected of being allied with the Mahdi militia, he said. Military officials have said recently that Sadr's militia is splintering, which they said contributed to a pause in fighting but could make the group harder to defeat in the long run. Sadr has appeared to cooperate with US and Iraqi troops as they carry out a US-led plan to stabilize Baghdad and other parts of the country, even as he has continued to criticize the US presence in Iraq and has called on his followers to resist it. As troops swept through his stronghold of Sadr City–a Shiite district of Baghdad seen as crucial in the quest to temper violence in the capital–his Mahdi Army has stood down on the orders of its leader. In October, at least 30 Mahdi Army fighters were killed when US forces staged a raid in Diwaniya. In August, 50 militiamen and 23 Iraqi soldiers were reported killed in a clash between Iraqi troops and Sadr loyalists.