Iraqi Shi'ites demand release of Sadr aide

BAGHDAD, Sep 21 (Reuters) Iraq's normally fractious Shi'ite political parties united today to criticise Washington and demand the release of a top aide to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr after he was arrested by US forces.

Salah al-Obeydi was among a group arrested overnight by US and Iraqi forces in the holy city of Najaf, Sadr's followers said. US troops did not immediately comment on the arrests.

In a rare show of unity, leaders of rival Shi'ite groups stood beside a Sadrist member of parliament at a brief news conference in Baghdad as he denounced the US raid and called for the defence minister, a Sunni, to explain the arrest.

''We demand their immediate release and an explanation from the defence minister over the involvement of Iraqi soldiers in this operation,'' Falah Hasan Shanshal said.

Haider al-Ibadi, a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party speaking beside Shanshal, said the government was not warned about the US raid.

''Regretfully, there are foreign powers who carry out dangerous violations in peaceful provinces,'' he said.

''We say there should be no arrests unless by a judicial order, secondly our own forces should make the arrests,'' added Hadi al-Amery, head of the Badr organisation, linked to the party that is Sadr's main rival in the ruling Shi'ite coalition.

The Sadr aide who was arrested, Obeydi, is a cleric who reads out Friday prayer sermons on Sadr's behalf in the holy city of Kufa.

US troops have clashed with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, even though Sadr's followers are also one of the biggest parties in the US-backed ruling Shi'ite coalition.

Yesterday, the US general responsible for training Iraqi police, Joseph Peterson, said Mehdi Army members were among those running sectarian death squads in Baghdad.

REUTERS SP BD1740