British soldiers clash with al-Sadr supporters

British soldiers clashed with Shiite fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in south-eastern Iraq today after they arrested one of the militia’s leaders.

No one was hurt in the hour long gun battle, a British military spokesman said.

Three British military vehicles were fired upon with small arms fire and a rocket propelled grenade in two separate attacks in the city of Amarah, 180 miles south-east of Baghdad, a British military spokesman said.

None of the vehicles was damaged, he said.

The attacks happened after British forces detained militia leader, Ahmed Hachi. A British military spokesman said three people were arrested just after midnight. He did not identify them.

According to the witnesses, the fighting lasted about an hour and a shop was burned.

The trouble began the day after al-Sadr took steps to honour an agreement meant to end fighting with US forces in the holy cities of Nafaj and Kufa, ordering fighters who did not live in those twin cities to return home.

Many of the fighters who rushed to Najaf from Baghdad, Nasiriyah and other cities had already left after a truce brokered by Shiite politicians and clerics to end nearly eight weeks of fighting around some of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines.

The announcement was significant, however, because it indicated al-Sadr is taking steps toward defusing tensions in Shiite areas and co-operating with the interim government and Shiite clerical hierarchy.

Al-Sadr launched his uprising in April after US occupation authorities closed his newspaper, arrested a key aide and announced a warrant for his arrest in connection with the April 2003 murder of a moderate cleric.

The United States had vowed to “capture or kill” al-Sadr, but President George Bush said today he would leave it to the new interim Iraqi government to deal with the radical cleric.