British sweep Basra, Iraq says 5 militia killed

BAGHDAD, July 18 (Reuters) British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra said they conducted a large operation to search for weapons early today, and Iraqi police said five Shi'ite militia fighters had been killed in clashes.

The raid, which comes after British forces detained a leader of the Shi'ite Mehdi Army in southern Basra early on Sunday, appeared to be the latest operation against rogue militia fighters blamed for worsening sectarian violence in Iraq.

Squadron Leader Richard Painter, a spokesman for the British forces in the volatile oil port city 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, said there had been an ''engagement'' during an operation that lasted several hours. He did not mention the group.

He said there were no British casualties and that three suspects had been arrested.

''There was a deliberately planned operation with the intent to search for weapons used against Multi-National Forces in terrorist activities,'' Painter told Reuters.

A man his comrades identified as Sajad Abu Aya was detained early on Sunday in the town of Garma north of Basra in a major British military operation involving helicopters and hundreds of troops in which one soldier was killed and another wounded.

Security has deteriorated sharply over the past year in Basra, where there is a complex network of criminal gangs and warring Shi'ite militias. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has declared a state of emergency to crack down on the violence, which threatens oil exports, the backbone of the Iraqi economy.

There have been a number of operations, involving US and Iraqi forces, against Mehdi Army leaders this month. The targets, however, have mostly been rogue elements disobeying the militia leadership, Shi'ite sources say. Sadr has made no comment publicly on the arrests.

US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said last week that Iraqi and US-led forces were preparing to ''take on'' groups ''acting outside the law''.

Maliki has vowed to disband militias, mostly the armed wings of Shi'ite Islamist parties.

REUTERS SB BST1344