Mahdi Army leadership lying low in Iran

LONDON (AFP)

Senior commanders in the Mahdi Army militia, led by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have moved to neighbouring Iran to avoid being targeted by the new American security sweep in Baghdad, The Guardian has reported.
Citing an unnamed high-level Iraqi government official, the newspaper said that the militia's leadership had crossed the border to regroup and retrain.
The report comes a day after US defence officials said Sadr had likely fled to Iran ahead of the planned
crackdown on sectarian violence, a claim the cleric's supporters dismissed.

"Over the last three weeks, they (Iran) have taken away from Baghdad the first- and second-tier military leaders of the Mahdi Army," the unidentified official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying by the daily.
The Iranians' aim was to "prevent the dismantling of the infrastructure of the Shiite militias" in Baghdad.
"The strategy is to lie low until the storm passes, and then let them return and fill the vacuum," he said.
He added: "All indications are that Moqtada is in Iran, but that is not really the point.

"They (the Iranians) are calculating that the security operation will continue for a certain period of time, and that it will do serious damage to the Sunni jihadists and the insurgents," the official continued.
"While in Iran they will be able to get more training and then once the Sunnis have been pacified, they plan to return."

The Guardian also quoted Karim Al-Moussawi, who the paper identified as a senior figure in the Mahdi Army, as saying that most of the militia's leaders had gone to Iran, but of their own accord.
"Simply they were seeking sanctuary as individuals from expected targeting by the US occupying forces during the security drive in Baghdad," Moussawi told the newspaper.

Major General William Caldwell, spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, meanwhile told media Wednesday in Baghdad: "Yes, our reporting does indicate that he (Sadr) has left Iraq and it appears he is in Iran."
"We obviously track Moqtada al-Sadr very closely but the reason why he is not in Iraq is not something I can discuss."
The US Pentagon says Sadr's Mahdi Army militia is the most dangerous single faction in the vicious sectarian war gripping Iraq, and accuses rogue elements of the force of killing hundreds of Sunni civilians.

The cleric has not been seen publicly in Iraq in recent weeks, but Nassar al-Rubaie, head of Sadr's parliamentary bloc, insisted he was "still inside Iraq and working normally" without fear of US forces.