Coalition Forces Clash With Sadr’s Militia

Iraqi, British and American forces clashed Saturday with the Mehdi Army in Baghdad and the southern port city of Basra.

The battles came a day after the militia’s leader, the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, reiterated his call for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.

American and Iraqi forces raided a suspected Mehdi Army hideout in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a working-class neighborhood containing many of Sadr’s supporters, The New York Times reported.

The leader of a suspected terrorist cell was captured during the raid. The suspect, who was not identified, is linked to Iran’s weapons and training network and has ties to al-Qaida, the U.S. military told the Times.

The capture sparked a clash in which five terrorists were killed during a coalition airstrike, CNN reported. An Iraqi official told CNN three civilians died when the airstrikes hit a line of cars queuing next to a gas station near Sadr City.

Also Saturday, a car bomb and subsequent mortar fire killed at least six people and wounded another 55 in southwestern Baghdad.