BAGHDAD — A major battle between the Iraqi army and Shiite Muslim militiamen in the southern city of Diwaniya left more than 40 dead, including 25 soldiers, and more than 90 injured, U.S. and Iraqi military sources said.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene in which combatants fought through the streets using machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. At one point during the battle, which began Sunday night and raged into Monday, militiamen executed a dozen Iraqi soldiers who had run out of ammunition, Maj. Gen. Othman Ghanimi said.
The Iraqi army's inability to deal a swift and decisive blow to the militia uprising in Diwaniya raised questions about the readiness of tens of thousands of recently trained troops who are taking on increased security responsibilities nationwide.
Half of Iraq's 10 army divisions either are in charge of their own territories or are in the process of taking over authority from the U.S.-led coalition. U.S. forces appear to have made progress recently in reducing the level of violence in Baghdad, but ultimately they are counting on having the Iraqi army take responsibility for security there as well.
Further evidence that Iraq's defense network remains divided by regional and sectarian loyalties came over the weekend when 100 Iraqi soldiers of a battalion of 550 refused to deploy to Baghdad from the southeastern province of Maysan, in part because of concern about confronting fellow Muslim sect members. The British military called the incident a mutiny.
The battle in Diwaniya ended only when reinforcements arrived from the city of Kut, 60 miles away. It was sparked after Iraqi soldiers in the predominantly Shiite town arrested a member of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's Al Mahdi militia, saying the man was planning bombings there, authorities said.
Sadr, 33, whose militia was formed soon after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and clashed with American forces in Najaf in 2004, is among Iraq's most powerful figures. After initially opposing Iraq's new government and constitution, Sadr's followers have become a major force in Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's administration, holding several Cabinet seats.
Members of Sadr's militia also have joined the Iraqi security forces in large numbers and allegedly have carried out sectarian killings under the color of law.
