Health minister: 7 Iraqi guards arrested - Yahoo! News
Health minister: 7 Iraqi guards arrested - Yahoo! News: "BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed Sunday that U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise pre-dawn raid on his office. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear.
Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke open doors inside the building leading to his office and hauled away the seven men, who were posted there as night guards.
There was no U.S. statement on the claim. However, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said Iraqi forces with U.S. advisers searched the ministry after a tip from an Iraqi citizen and took five people into custody for questioning.
'There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was no reason to arrest them. It is a provocation,' said al-Shemari, a Shiite aligned to the anti-U.S. radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who heads Iraq's biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army.
'We demand that the government and the prime minister put an end to the American military operations,' he told The Associated Press."
Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed Sunday that U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise pre-dawn raid on his office. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear.
Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke open doors inside the building leading to his office and hauled away the seven men, who were posted there as night guards.
There was no U.S. statement on the claim. However, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said Iraqi forces with U.S. advisers searched the ministry after a tip from an Iraqi citizen and took five people into custody for questioning.
'There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was no reason to arrest them. It is a provocation,' said al-Shemari, a Shiite aligned to the anti-U.S. radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who heads Iraq's biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army.
'We demand that the government and the prime minister put an end to the American military operations,' he told The Associated Press."
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