US Iraqi forces besiege Shi'ite mosque -police

BAGHDAD, July 8 (Reuters) US and Iraqi forces with armoured vehicles surrounded a Shi'ite mosque in southeastern Baghdad after dark today in what appeared to be the latest operation against Shi'ite militias, police said.

There was no immediate comment from the US military or Iraqi Interior Ministry but a policeman at the scene outside the Sadrain mosque in the Zafaraniya district said he believed they were trying to arrest members of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army militia.

The mosque is believed to be loyal to radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mehdi Army fighters have been the target of several recent operations by government and US forces, including a major raid on Baghdad's Sadr City area yesterday.

The US military said it captured a major militant suspect accused of kidnappings and murders in that raid, although Shi'ite political sources said a renowned local warlord known as Abu Deraa, whose neighbourhood was targeted, was still at large.

The sources said the raid was part of a hunt for a Sunni Arab lawmaker whose kidnap a week ago in a Shi'ite neighbourhood has prompted a boycott of parliament by her Sunni colleagues.

In another operation announced yesterday, the US military said it seized a Mehdi Army leader on Thursday whom it suspected of importing surface-to-air missiles from Shi'ite Iran.

Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said his national unity coalition formed two months ago will crack down on nominally pro-government Shi'ite militias as well as the minority Sunni Arab insurgency.

A major operation has been under way for the past month with the goal of restoring security to Baghdad, where dozens of people are being killed every day in sectarian violence.

REUTERS SY RK2258