Iraqi deputy health minister arrested

US-backed Iraqi troops have engaged in a major security sweep to break illegal militias’ hold on Baghdad, arresting the Iraq health ministry’s second-highest official.

The US military accused Hakim al-Zamili, the deputy of the health ministry, of ordering the killing of political opponents and funnelling millions of dollars to rogue Shiite militias.

“Special Iraqi Army Forces captured a senior ministry of health official today who is suspected of being a central figure in alleged corruption and rogue Jaysh Al-Mahdi infiltration of the ministry,” a US statement said yesterday.

Jaysh Al-Mahdi (JAM) is the Arabic term for the Mahdi Army, a powerful militia group loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Iraqi Health Minister Ali al-Shamari reacted sharply to the arrest, saying: “This is a violation to the health ministry and of the sovereignty of Iraq.”

According to the US statement, Zamili “is suspected in the deaths of several ministry officials” including its director general in the violent province of Diyala, and in kickback schemes linked to ministry contracts. He is also accused of allowing a large number of Mahdi Army militiamen to work at the ministry and use its vehicles, including ambulances, to kidnap and kill Sunni Arabs.

In Iraq’s government of national unity, the health ministry has been assigned to Sadr’s party, which US authorities say backs death squads in the bitter sectarian violence gripping Iraq.

“The suspect’s corruption is believed to have funnelled millions of US dollars into rogue JAM,” the military said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi and US forces swept through Baghdad as part of a plan to quell the sectarian violence, but another 43 people were killed and scores wounded in a string of attacks in several parts of the country.