U.S. military police backed by Iraqi troops maintained their cordon of Baghdad's Sadr City on Sunday, manning barricades and checkpoints in and around the Shiite slum in an operation to find a kidnapped U.S. soldier and to capture the leader of Iraq's most notorious death squad. The soldier, an Iraqi-American translator whose name has not been released, has been missing for six days. He was abducted by armed men while making an unauthorized visit to see relatives in the Karrada neighborhood of central Baghdad one week ago.
| U.S. forces have effectively sealed off Sadr City and its 2.5 million residents from the rest of Baghdad. |
U.S. forces have effectively sealed off Sadr City and its 2.5 million residents from the rest of Baghdad, and within Sadr City, they have isolated the neighborhood around the home of alleged death squad leader Abu Deraa, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official who would not be quoted by name. U.S. officials have refused to comment on whether they believe Deraa is holding the missing soldier, and it was unclear whether the two goals of the U.S. operation - finding the soldier and capturing Deraa - are related.
| On Sunday, U.S. troops searched every car going in and out of Sadr City; even donkey carts were searched. About a mile away, 1,000 men and women massed inside Sadr City to protest. |
On Sunday, U.S. troops searched every car going in and out of Sadr City; even donkey carts were searched. About a mile away, 1,000 men and women massed inside Sadr City to protest. The Iraqi Interior Ministry official and residents of Sadr City said close lieutenants of Deraa's and some of his relatives were killed in U.S. raids near his house Wednesday and Friday. They said Deraa, who is feared by Sunnis across the capital for allegedly leading a gang that has kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands of Sunnis, appeared at a funeral Friday and vowed revenge against the United States and anyone in Sadr City who cooperated in the attacks. The Interior Ministry spokesman said | Deraa accused Moqtada al-Sadr of being "a coward." |
Deraa accused Moqtada al-Sadr - an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric with many followers in Sadr City who leads the Mahdi Army militia - of being "a coward."
| The soldier's brother also was abducted, but he was later freed and told police the kidnappers were from the Mahdi Army, al-Maliki said. |
The Mahdi Army, which runs Sadr City, has been accused of killing thousands of Sunni Arabs. But many security officials believe al-Sadr is losing control of extremist members of his militia and Deraa might be a "rogue" element. Al-Sadr denies knowing anything about the kidnapping of the U.S. soldier, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last week. The soldier's brother also was abducted, but he was later freed and told police the kidnappers were from the Mahdi Army, al-Maliki said. |