Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Hunt for kidnapped soldier in Sadr City

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 28, 2006 at 2:01 AM

BAGHDAD, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. troops made a foray Friday into Sadr City, the Baghdad base of the Mahdi Army, as they continued a search for a kidnapped soldier.

Sheikh Abdul Zahra al-Suwadi, head of Moqtada al-Sadr's office in the neighborhood, told The New York Times that U.S. forces, backed by helicopter gun ships, spent about an hour in the area. They searched a mosque and school.

"We have been ordered by Najaf to not engage in any clashes with them, because we know they want to drag us into a conflict, but we are now a part of the political process," Suwadi said, referring to Sadr's headquarters.

The soldier, an Iraqi-American, disappeared Monday while visiting relatives outside the fortified Green Zone. A relative said masked men invaded the house, handcuffed the soldier and took him away in a vehicle.

Friday was a quiet day in Baghdad. Police said they found eight bodies in the city but no bombings were reported.

On Wednesday, U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces entered Sadr City searching for a Shiite guerilla. They skirmished with the militia for several hours.

Topics: Sadr City
© 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Father's Day: Celebrity dads The 2012 Miss USA competition Faces of the 2012 French Open
2012 MTV Movie Awards Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Notable deaths of 2012
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Surprise parties have a little more gunfire in Arizona
Rehabilitated former "bath salts" zombie explains what it's like to hunger for the flesh of the...
Threatening to personally, intimately fertilize neighbor's yard at 3:30 AM is no way to make friends,...
Luka Rocco Magnotta confirmed arrested in Berlin
News: Building fails safety inspection. Fark: For the second time. Florida: It's the new county...
Green Bay Packers t-shirt: $30. Ticket to charity softball game: $45. Pictures of you stealing a...