Shiite Muslims

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki promised Wednesday to crack down on Shiite Muslim militias and Sunni Arab insurgents, warning that no one -- not even political ally Muqtada Sadr -- would be above the law. "We will not allow any politicians to interfere with this Baghdad security plan ... whether they are Sunnis or Shiites, Arabs or Kurds, militias or parties, insurgents or terrorists," Maliki said in a rare interview.

U.S. and Iraqi troops on Friday arrested a top Shiite leader suspected of torturing and killing civilians. The capture of the man Iraqi officials identified as Sheik Abdul-Hadi Darraji, a chief aide of anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr, comes on the heels of a promised crackdown on Shiite militias by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. A spokesman for Sadr's office in Najaf quickly condemned the joint raid in Baghdad, promising countrywide demonstrations.

The Iraqi government plans to establish a military unit to safeguard efforts in Samarra to rebuild one of Shiite Islam's most important shrines, a move criticized by Sunni Arabs as provocative and by some U.S. officials here as ill-conceived.

As Shiite Arabs observe their most significant and distinctive holiday, they stand at a critical juncture, one marked by potential peril and once-unimaginable opportunity for their sect, its members long considered second-class citizens in the Sunni Arab-dominated Middle East. Ashura, the hectic 10-day ceremony that culminates today and marks the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad, has leaped in importance in the Arab world since the 2003 U.S.

First the Shiite Muslim women came, seemingly to offer advice. "We think you should leave," they told their Sunni Arab neighbors. "You're under threat." Less than a year later, Amal, a mixed neighborhood in southwest Baghdad, has fallen apart. Neighbor has turned on neighbor. Boys who grew up together now look at each other through the sights of AK-47s. Houses have been torched. Fathers, sons and brothers have disappeared.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials sought Sunday to bolster the charge that Iran was providing arms to Shiite Muslim militants in Iraq, displaying munitions and weapons fragments that they said constituted evidence that Tehran was contributing to Iraq's violence. They also alleged that a group under the command of Iran's supreme leader was behind the smuggling of weapons across the Iran-Iraq border. The briefing, held under unusually secretive circumstances, featured three U.S.

Iranian officials Monday called U.S. accusations that Tehran is arming Shiite militias in Iraq with tank-piercing explosives "unfounded," and said that Iran was committed to joining a regional effort to halt the tightening spiral of violence. But the back-and-forth charges between Tehran and Washington highlight a growing recognition of Iran's substantial influence on its next-door neighbor and its ability, if nothing else, to prevent the U.S.

The town is quiet, its residents asleep. A minute after midnight, the on-duty officer at a small U.S. base in the middle of Samarra starts his log. A solitary ambulance carries a sick child through the cold February night. Then, at 6:43 a.m., Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Gallas notes the sound of two explosions. Four minutes later: "Nighthawk elements report Main Dome on the Golden Mosque has been blown up."

Early today, aides to anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr denied reports that he had left Iraq and was thought to be in Tehran, where he has relatives. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that Sadr had left his Baghdad stronghold weeks ago but probably would return. He said fractures in Sadr's political and militia operations were probably to blame for the cleric's departure.

Iraqi forces early Friday rounded up 38 alleged members of a Shiite Muslim cult involved in a battle last month with Iraqi and U.S. troops that left hundreds dead and injured. Three contingents of Iraqi police raided several neighborhoods in the southern Iraqi city of Hillah and detained members of a mysterious religious group called Heaven's Army, said Brig. Gen. Abbas Jabouri, commander of the Hillah-based Scorpion Brigades.