The U.S. military said Monday that a rouge Shiite militia leader was responsible for the Sunday Baghdad kidnapping of 10 tribal leaders and a cleric from Diyala province.
According to intelligence reports, the military identified Arkan Hasnawi, a former brigade commander in Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as responsible for the kidnapping.
On Sunday, an official from the media office of Diyala province told Xinhua that seven of the province's Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders were kidnapped by gunmen on a faked checkpoint in the Husseiniyah area, part of Baghdad's al-Sha'b district after they met top officials in the office of the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on reconciliation efforts in the province.
The U.S. military noted in a statement that "Hasnawi's actions clearly demonstrates he has chosen to dishonor Moqtada Al Sadr's ceasefire order and that he has joined forces with Iranian-supported Special Groups that are rejecting Sadr's direction to embrace fellow Iraqis."
"Arkan Hasnawi and his gang of criminals continue to intimidate and terrorize innocent Iraqi citizens, taking actions that mirror the tactics used by al-Qaida in Iraq," the statement said.
In August, Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to freeze their activities for six months, but thousands of his followers are dissatisfied and formed their own groups that the U.S. military says are being supported by Iran to stir up violence in Iraq. Iran denies the accusations.
The U.S. military pledged to work with the Iraqi government to secure the release of the tribal Sheiks and to bring to justice those responsible for the incident.
Source: Xinhua
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