BAGHDAD, July 2 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces detained three senior provincial officials affiliated with Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday, drawing a sharp rebuke from his movement. Local officials who declined to be identified said the head of the council in the southern province of Maysan, Abdul Jabbar Wahid, and two other council members had been detained. Maysan, a stronghold of the anti-American Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, was the scene of a recent security operation against militias. Salah al-Ubaidi, Sadr's chief spokesman, confirmed Wahid had been detained but not the others. "We condemn this act. The head of the provincial council had been implementing the security plan in recent days," Ubaidi said. "What happened shows Sadrist officials are targets ... If people working with the government are treated this way, how will those outside the law be treated?" The Maysan police spokesman, speaking on al-Hurra television, said arrest warrants had been issued for the three members of the Maysan provincial council. He did not say why the warrants were issued. The Mehdi Army initially resisted government crackdowns on militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq that were launched in late March. Sadr recently urged his followers to respect the operations. But the detention of Sadrists, especially senior ones, has often been the trigger for tension between the movement and the government. (Reporting by Wisam Mohammed and Mohammed Abbas; writing by Dean Yates; editing by Andrew Roche)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) talks to U.N. special representative Staffan de Mistura (L) during a meeting in Baghdad July 2, 2008. Iraq will have time to hold provincial elections ...
