British troops seize 12 in Basra raids

By Alaa Habib

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – British troops seized 12 men,
including members of the Iraqi police, during overnight raids
in Basra on suspicion of involvement in deadly attacks on
foreign troops, the British military said on Friday.

Some of the detainees are also linked to militia groups, a
British commander in the area said. Sources in rebel Shi’ite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s office in the southern Iraqi city said
those detained were mostly Sadr supporters.

“In the past two months, eight multi-national force
soldiers and six coalition members have been killed by
terrorists in Basra province,” Brigadier John Lorimer said in a
statement.

“This terrorism must be stopped and … this operation was
designed to do exactly that,” he said.

The raids came hours after British Prime Minister Tony
Blair said London suspected Iran or Lebanon’s Hizbollah group
might be supplying technology and explosives to Shi’ite Muslim
militants operating in Iraq, although he said he had no proof.

Hizbollah and Iran deny the accusations.

“Some of the individuals we have arrested are linked to
militia groups,” Lorimer said. “But let me make it absolutely
clear: we have acted against them solely because they are
involved in terrorism, not because they are members of any
particular political group or organization.”

He added that some of those detained were also members of
the Basra police force, which Iraqi officials recently conceded
had been infiltrated by militia organizations.

British and U.S. forces have been repeatedly attacked in
recent months by roadside bombs packed with “shaped charges,”
which are much more deadly than conventional roadside bombs.

At least six British troops have been killed since July in
attacks that appeared to be the work of the more powerful
bombs.

Blair, speaking during a news conference in London with
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Thursday said:

“What is clear is that there have been new explosive
devices used not just against British forces but elsewhere in
Iraq. The particular nature of those devices leads us either to
Iranian elements or to Hizbollah … However, we cannot be
certain of this at the present time.”

SADR SUPPORTERS

Sources in Sadr’s office in Basra said those detained
included several lieutenants in Basra’s interior affairs
department, which is part of the Interior Ministry, and an
official with the local electricity authority.

“They are mostly Sadr people,” one of the sources said.

He said some of the suspects were seized from the police
building which was attacked by British forces last month to
free two undercover soldiers who had been detained by Iraqi
police. The British military said only that the raids took
place in the Hadem district of Basra.

Another source said all 12 men were seized from one house.

The arrests run the risk of increasing tensions between the
8,500 British troops serving in Iraq and the local population.

After the detention of the two British soldiers last month,
angry crowds of young men attacked British military vehicles
with petrol bombs and rocks, forcing units to pull back.

The sources in Sadr’s office said the arrests took place
late on Thursday, shortly after the men had broken fast on the
second day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, in what could be
seen as a slight and provoke more anger.

The British military said only that the raids took place
“in the late hours” of Thursday. A spokesman said the operation
had been conducted peacefully, with no shots fired.

Sadr, a young cleric with a strong following among poor,
disaffected Shi’ites in cities such as Baghdad and Basra,
oversees a militia known as the Mehdi Army that has risen up
twice against U.S. and British forces over the past year.

Some in Sadr’s movement say that offshoots of the Mehdi
Army are now operating outside of Sadr’s control in Basra. Sadr
himself is playing an increasingly political role, while not
relinquishing his command of the Mehdi Army.