Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with Iraqi police forces in the southern city of Amara on Friday, witness and medical source said.

Clashes between the two sides which started on Thursday, have left at least 15 people dead and more than 90 others wounded, a medical source in the city hospital said.

"Since Thursday night, dozens of Mehdi militiamen with rocket propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles attacked several police stations in Amara city," Abu Dawood, a local resident, told Xinhua by telephone.

Hundreds of black-clad militiamen held their guns were patrolling on the streets and some of them were on police vehicles, which they seized from the police stations, Dawood said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki dispatched an emergency ministerial delegation, headed by Sherwan al-Waily, Minister of State for Security Affairs and senior officials of the Interior Ministry in the wake of the clashes, the state-run television reported.

The violence in Amara broke out Thursday when the head of police intelligence in the province, who was a member of rival Shiite Badr Brigade militia, was killed.

The victim's family blamed the Mehdi army for the assassination, promoting the family to kidnap a teenage brother of local head of Mehdi army.

Mehdi army militiamen have long controlled the Amara city, the provincial capital of the southern province of Missan, some 360 km south of Baghdad.

Source: Xinhua