This was not the homecoming party Al Sadr expected.
Since his parade of cars into Kufa, it’s been nothing but bum news.
First… the Brits and Iraqi forces took out Wissam al-Waili, 23, also known as Abu Qadir, a top Al Sadr aide and two of his henchmen in Basra yesterday.
Now… After US and Iraqi forces captured a terror leader with connections to Iran, 5 militants were killed in Sadr City today.
The AP reported:
A day after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resurfaced to end nearly four months in hiding and demand U.S. troops leave Iraq, American forces raided his Sadr City stronghold and killed five suspected militia fighters in air strikes Saturday.
U.S. and Iraqi forces called in the air strikes after a raid in which they captured a “suspected terrorist cell leader,” the U.S. military said in statement.
The statement claimed the captured man was “the suspected leader in a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training.”
EFP’s are deadly roadside bombs that hurl a fist-size slug of molten copper that penetrates armor, a weapon that has been highly effective against American forces over the past year.
The militia fighters were killed in air strikes on nine cars that were seen positioning themselves to attack American forces after the raid, the military said.
Jules Crittenden has a Mookie roundup.