A U.S. military convoy was bombed near an Iraqi police post, shocking but not injuring American servicemen. The Americans detained three policemen suspected in the bombing, and according to eyewitnesses, "beat them pretty badly."
U.S. troops report that Shiite policemen in Baghdad are responsible for some of the roadside bombs targeting U.S. convoys.
It has been four months since the U.S. military began it's "surge" of troops in Baghdad. Initially, sectarian violence dropped considerably, as reinforcements spread out in the city.
As NPR's Anne Garrels tells Robert Siegel, Shiite militias loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr disappeared from the streets. But Sunni insurgent bombings of Shiite targets continued. And now, Shiite militias are back in many neighborhoods.
After laying low for the first few weeks of the "surge" in Baghdad, al-Sadr's Shiite militiamen are back on the streets of several Baghdad neighborhoods.
In one incident, militiamen abducted 16 men at a checkpoint, and gave each tests to determine whether he was Sunni or Shiite. Three of them, presumably Shiites, were released. The other 13, according to an eyewitness, were beaten; some of them were killed.
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