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03/27/2006:

"US troops accused after crackdown on Iraqi militia leaves 20 dead at mosque"

American and Iraqi troops mounted two raids in Baghdad yesterday arresting more than 40 interior ministry guards at a secret prison and killing around 20 gunmen in an assault on a mosque loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The sudden strikes seemed to put muscle behind a strong warning from the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Saturday that militias must be brought under control. They had become a bigger threat to Iraq than the insurgency, he said.

"More Iraqis are dying from the militia violence than from the terrorists. The militias need to be under control," he said during a visit to a Baghdad youth centre that had been renovated with US aid.

Yesterday's raids saw US-backed Iraqi special forces exchange fire at a mosque in eastern Baghdad. Iraqi police said 22 died, while the American military said 16 "insurgents" were killed by Iraqi special forces, with US troops on the scene as back-up. "No mosques were entered or damaged during this operation," the US military said in a statement.

"As elements of the 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade entered their objective, they came under fire. In the ensuing exchange of fire ... [Iraqi troops] killed 16 insurgents. As they secured their objective, they detained 15 more individuals," the statement said.

An Iraqi police lieutenant, Hassan Hamoud, put the death toll at 22, with eight wounded. He said some casualties were at the Shia Dawa party office near the mosque. A senior Sadr aide accused US troops of killing more than 20 unarmed worshippers at the Mustapha mosque in cold blood. He denied that they were Mahdi army gunmen. "The American forces went into the mosque at prayers and killed more than 20 worshippers," Hazin al-Araji said. "They tied them up and shot them."
guardian.co.uk