Topic: U.S., Iraqi forces raid radical Shiite stronghold of Sadr City

Media: The Associated Press
Byline: SAMIR N. YACOUB
Date: 25 October 2006


BAGHDAD, Iraq_U.S. and Iraqi forces on Wednesday raided a stronghold of
radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in search of a top
militia leader accused of commanding sectarian death squads, the U.S.
military said.

Iraqi army special forces, backed up by U.S. advisers, carried out a raid to
capture a "top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death
squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad," the military said in a
statement.

Iraqi forces were fired upon and requested backup from U.S. aircraft, which
used "precision gunfire only to eliminate the enemy threat," the statement
said.

The statement didn't say whether the death squad leader was captured and
made no mention of casualties. Other details were to follow, it said.

At least four people were killed and 18 injured in the pre-dawn fighting
according to Col. Khazim Abbas, a local police commander, and Qassim
al-Suwaidi, director of the area's Imam Ali Hospital.