US troops capture al-Sadr aide

US troops captured a key lieutenant of Iraqi rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during overnight clashes in Najaf that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50.

Riyadh al-Nouri, al-Sadr’s brother-in-law, offered no resistance when US troops raided his home during a series of clashes in the Shiite holy city, according to Azhar al-Kinani, a staffer in al-Sadr’s office in Najaf.

The capture of al-Nouri would be a major blow to al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army, which has been battling coalition forces since early April.

Al-Sadr launched his uprising in response to a crackdown by coalition authorities who announced an arrest warrant against him in the April 2003 assassination of a moderate cleric in Najaf.

Al-Nouri was also sought in the 2003 killing.

Masked gunmen today opened fire on a convoy taking Russian technicians to work at a Baghdad power station, killing two and wounding at least five, Iraqi and Russian officials said.

In Moscow, the executive director of the company, Alexander Rybinsky, said the firm would evacuate all its staff from Iraq.

The attacks on the Russians could be an attempt to undermine international efforts to rebuild the country, since Russian expertise has played an important role in reviving Iraq’s electricity industry and other infrastructure.

Police said the group was travelling in a bus when they were attacked about a few hundred yards from the Dora power station in southwestern Baghdad. One Iraqi was also killed, police said.

The wounded were taken to Yarmouk Hospital, where Dr Adham Saadoun said some were in serious condition.

It was the second fatal attack against employees of Interenergoservis this month.

On May 10, a group of Russian workers was seized after their vehicle came under attack in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad. A third worker was killed in the attack.

Three Russian and five Ukrainian employees of Interenergoservis were abducted in Iraq last month, but were released unharmed the next day.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had repeatedly warned Russians of the dangers of living in Iraq, where violence is on the rise ahead of the return of sovereignty on June 30.

Elsewhere, the Polish command said a coalition base outside of Karbala, 50 miles north of Najaf, came under mortar fire.

Demolition teams also defused three roadside bombs in the area, a spokesman for the Polish-led multinational force said.