The U.S. and Iraqi troops detained up to 30 Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Diwaniyah early on Saturday, a local police source said.
The troops raided neighborhoods of Nahdha and Sadr in eastern Diwaniyah, 180 km south of Baghdad, targeting local leaders of Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and detained some 30 suspects, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
He said that U.S. helicopters hovered over the area and fired on several militia positions, destroying five houses without causing human casualty.
On Wednesday, the U.S. military and Iraqi police said that their troops detained Muhammad Abdul Hussein, a member of Diwaniyah provincial council and a member of Shiite Sadr's movement, on his way home on charges of involvement in armed attacks.
Diwaniyah, the capital of the al-Qadsiyah province, has been a flashpoint for Shiite factions battling for supremacy in the region.
It has also regularly seen heavy clashes between Shiite militiamen and U.S., Iraqi troops.
Source: Xinhua
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