Iraqi forces raid mosque

Iraqi forces backed by US troops raided a Shiite mosque in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, detaining up to 25 followers of a radical Shiite cleric, police and the cleric’s supporters said today.

The raid took place last night at the Al-Rasoul mosque in the teeming Shiite quarter, where US troops battled followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last year until a peace agreement was struck.

Police said the raid was conducted by US troops and Iraqi National Guards and occurred shortly before sunset. Officials gave no reason for the raid and it was unclear how many worshippers remain in custody.

An al-Sadr aide, Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji, denounced the raid as a “criminal act” and demanded that all the detainees be freed.

“This move by US soldiers aims at provoking the al-Sadr movement in order to accuse us of sabotaging the elections and this is an ugly manoeuvre,” al-Daraji said. “We reserve the right to respond to this rude action.”

Al-Sadr has declined to run in the national elections, however some of his followers are running on tickets led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and one endorsed by the leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Iraqis will choose a 275-member National Assembly and regional legislatures. Sunni Muslim extremists have threatened to sabotage the election and many Sunni clerics have called for a boycott because of the presence of 170,000 US and other foreign troops.

Al-Sadr, who led two major uprisings against American forces last year, has told his followers it’s up to them to decide whether to vote. The country’s mainstream Shiite clerical leadership has said it is a religious duty to vote since the Shiite majority hopes to assume power as a result of the balloting.