US and Iraqi forces arrested one of Muqtada al-Sadr’s top aides yesterday in Baghdad, his office said, as pressure increased on the radical Shiite cleric’s militia ahead of a planned security crackdown in the capital.

Masked Shiite gunmen went on a rampage in western Baghdad today, pulling Sunni Arabs from cars and off the street and killing at least 41 people, police said.

US aircraft destroyed a Baghdad office of a radical Shiite cleric, killing two people and injuring six, his followers said today.