Pat Dollard

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Karbala, Apr 22, (VOI) – Seven men belonging to the so-called Imam Ali Brigades were captured on Tuesday for suspected involvement in assassinations and armed operations, a security official in Karbala said.

“The security agencies arrested seven members of the Imam Ali Brigades group, including two oil police personnel, based on intelligence tips pointing to their presence inside a house in al-Ghadir neighborhood, (3 km) west of Karbala,” Maj. General Raed Shakir Jawdat, Karbala police and operations chief, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

“The men were involved in the assassination of a police officer, a lawyer, and five civilians months ago. They are also suspected of having set a number of vehicles ablaze during the recent incidents in Karbala a month ago,” he said.

“The Brigades are an elite group of Shiite leader Muqtdad al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militias,” explained Jawdat.

The holy Shiite city of Karbala, 110 km southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has witnessed armed clashes coinciding with the Basra incidents, between gunmen and security forces.

The fighting left many people killed and more than 550 gunmen captured, 338 of them were released.

Armed confrontations have flared up late last month in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city and oil hub, between government forces and Sadr’s militias. The clashes coincided with angry upheavals in several southern provinces, where Sadr supporters spread.

The clashes broke out hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a plan codenamed Saulat al-Forsan (Knights’ Assault), which he said targeted the elimination of armed groups in Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.