BAGHDAD, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki defied the U.S. military Tuesday and ordered military checkpoints encircling Sadr City removed by sundown.
The city, a sprawling Shiite slum in northeastern Baghdad, has been under lock-down for eight days after an Iraqi-born U.S. soldier was kidnapped at gunpoint.
Two days ago, an angry Maliki said he had not been told in advance about a series of raids and security measures imposed on Sadr City, which the U.S. military refuted. Maliki went on to say he would not automatically accept U.S.-imposed deadlines, and that he was not the United States' "man in Iraq," CNN said.
To protest the military checkpoints, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadral-Sadr called a general strike in Sadr City, which on Tuesday closed most government buildings, schools and ships, CNN said.
A U.S. military spokesman said Maliki's order was being reviewed, but said security checkpoints are maintained throughout Baghdad as part of the overall security plan.
