Roadside bomb kills Shiite travellers in Iraq

A roadside bomb exploded near a minibus full of Shiite civilians today, killing at least three people and wounding nine as they went to visit relatives south of Baghdad, police said.

US-led forces raided houses in search of Shiite extremists elsewhere in the volatile area.

The minibus was travelling the main highway from Baghdad to the predominantly Shiite southern city of Hillah when it was struck by the explosion around in Iskandariyah, 30 miles from the capital.

There have been frequent attacks along sections of the highway in the mainly Sunni southern belts of Baghdad, although violence has recently dipped as local Sunni tribal leaders joined forces with US-led forces against al Qaida in Iraq.

The US military also announced that four high-ranking militia leaders had been captured during October 12-14 operations in the area around Iskandariyah.

Iraqi police said 30 suspected fighters from the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were rounded up by joint US-Iraqi forces during house-to-house searches in two eastern neighbourhoods in Diwaniyah, 180 miles south of Baghdad, early today.

Violence against US-led and Iraqi forces in the area around Diwaniyah has spiked recently as rival Shiite factions battle for power in the oil-rich area.

The governor of the Qadisiyah province, which includes Diwaniyah, met with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Baghdad today to ask for help in boosting security in the region.

Governor Hamid al-Khudhari dismissed concerns of rising tensions between al-Sadr’s group and his party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Al-Khudari replaced Gov. Mohammad al-Hassani, who was assassinated by a powerful roadside bomb in August.

“There have been outlawed armed groups trying to take control of the province for a long time,” he said at a news conference after the meeting. “They are only criminals and we do not believe that there is political party that backs them.”

“We do have problems in the local security forces that make it difficult to ensure security and we asked the prime minister to fill the gaps in this regard,” he said without elaborating.