Militia

BAGHDAD -- Sporadic shooting could be heard yesterday in the southern city of Samawah after violent clashes erupted between security forces and members of the Mahdi Army militia affiliated with anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The shootings killed two Iraqi police officers and injured 36 people, including Iraqi police and soldiers, said Dr. Saleh Abdul Hassan, manager of the Samawah health clinic. Government offices closed, security forces imposed a curfew and Iraqi forces could be seen taking sniper positions atop buildings, witnesses said.

The Palestinian president was speaking Thursday as he dissolved the Hamas-Fatah unity government after Hamas militia members took control of key power centers in Gaza. A Palestinian civil war was predicted as Abbas dismissed the prime minister, Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and announced that a temporary emergency government would be established until new elections can be held. ?This is madness, the madness that is going on in Gaza now.? Mahmoud Abbas

BAGHDAD -- After an unexplained four-month absence, the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr re-emerged for prayers yesterday at a mosque in southern Iraq, raising questions about his motivations and how his return will affect efforts to stem violence and broker reconciliation between the country's factions. In a sermon delivered to throngs of emotional supporters, the leader of the Mahdi Army militia repeated his demand for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But he also struck a nationalistic, inclusive tone by appealing for understanding among Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis and Christians.

UNITED NATIONS -- The International Criminal Court issued its first arrest warrants yesterday for a Sudanese government minister and a former militia leader accused of war crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region. Sudanese officials, however, said they would not hand over the accused pair, who were charged with dozens of counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The general commanding American troops in Baghdad said yesterday that the time of Shiite militias in the city "is over" and gave tacit credit to an anti-U.S. cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, for American forces' ability to operate in once-hostile Shiite areas. Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., who commands about 43,000 troops in Baghdad and three provinces to the south, said U.S. and Iraqi troops enforcing a security crackdown across the city had not anticipated being able to move into Sadr City, the cleric's stronghold, until later.

UNITED NATIONS -- A high-level U.N. mission to Darfur said yesterday that the Sudanese government had orchestrated human rights crimes against its own people and urged that leaders of Sudan's government and militias be charged with war crimes. But Khartoum is blocking United Nations attempts to stem the violence, organizing opposition to the mission's report and stepping back from its agreement to accept a joint U.N.-African peacekeeping force in the region. Sudan's government "has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes," according to a report commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

UNITED NATIONS -- A high-ranking Sudanese government official colluded with militias to commit atrocities against civilians in the Darfur region, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said yesterday. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo presented results of a 21-month investigation that he said shows "reasonable evidence" that Ahmad Muhammad Harun, then Sudan's minister of state for the interior, and imprisoned militia leader Ali Kushayb "bear criminal responsibility" for mass executions, rapes and the forcible removal of thousands of people from their homes.

BAGHDAD, Iraq --Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric and founder of the Mahdi Army militia, discovered recently that two of his commanders had created DVDs of their men killing Sunnis in Baghdad. Documents suggested that they had received money from Iran. So he suspended them and stripped them of power, said two Mahdi leaders in Sadr City, the heart of al-Sadr's support here in the capital. But did he do so as part of his cooperation with the new security plan for Baghdad, which aims to quell the sectarian violence tormenting the city?

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iranian officials called U.S. accusations that it is arming Shiite militias in Iraq with tank-piercing explosives "unfounded" yesterday, and insisted that Iran is committed to joining a regional effort to halt the tightening spiral of violence. But the back-and-forth charges between Tehran and Washington highlight a growing recognition of Iran's substantial influence on its next-door neighbor and its ability, if nothing else, to prevent the U.S. from untangling the political conflicts that have plunged Iraq into mounting sectarian warfare.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces yesterday detained a high-level Iraqi official allegedly connected to the killings of Health Ministry officials and responsible for diverting millions of dollars to a Shiite militia, the U.S. military said. The arrest immediately sparked protests among Shiite lawmakers, who described it as an unlawful "kidnapping" and an attack on the "dignity of the Iraqis." The U.S. military also announced the deaths of four Marines in Anbar province. They died in separate attacks Wednesday, according to a military statement.