Iraq cleric's militia in show of force in Baghdad

By Ahmed Rasheed and Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Members of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia appeared in a show of force in a number of Baghdad neighbourhoods on Monday and forced shop owners to close, witnesses said.

Witnesses and Interior Ministry officials said Mehdi Army fighters spread through five districts in southern and western Bagdad, ordering shop owners to close.

In one neighbourhood, they closed the roads with flaming tyres. Witnesses said the militia had declared the start of a civil disobedience campaign.

There were no reports of any clashes with Iraqi or U.S. forces, but residents said the situation was very tense.

In at least one of the districts, southern Bayaa, witnesses said the Mehdi Army fighters were walking about unarmed, although guns could be seen in their vehicles.

An official in Sadr's office in one of the districts told Reuters that the Mehdi Army fighters were protesting against "U.S. raids and the arrests of innocent people". The militia has kept a low profile since Sadr called a ceasefire last August and extended it last month, a move U.S. commanders say has helped to sharply reduce sectarian violence between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Muslims.

But gunbattles in Baghdad and the southern city of Kut last week have raised fears that it may be unravelling at a time when the U.S. military is withdrawing 20,000 troops.

Mehdi Army fighters, however, have complained that U.S. and Iraqi forces have exploited the truce to carry out indiscriminate arrests. U.S. commanders say they only target Mehdi Army cells that have ignored Sadr's ceasefire order.