How the Mahdi Army will fix things in Iraq:

Rival Shiite parties clash in the south
Al-Sadr supporters storm political office

By Christian Berthelsen
Los Angeles Times
March 23. 2007 8:00AM

"Rare evidence of simmering tensions between Iraq's Shiite factions boiled into public view yesterday when followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the office of a rival Shiite political party in southern Iraq, wounding nine people and prompting a citywide daytime curfew, according to police and hospital officials.

The assault seems to have been prompted by a dispute between al-Sadr followers and a member of the Fadhila political party within the Electricity Ministry that serves the area. The governor's house was also attacked.

It came just one day after three alleged al-Sadr followers in the southern city of Kut stopped the mayor's car and shot him to death with the help of six members of the local police force.

There is a struggle for control of the government in the area, which is run by affiliates of the largest Shiite bloc in parliament, although it is being challenged by supporters of al-Sadr.

The three al-Sadr followers involved in the assassination were killed, and the six police officers have been arrested, according to local police. Kut was also under a full curfew yesterday.
        
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced it had captured several members of a group responsible for a brazen January attack on a troop station in Kerbala in which four soldiers were kidnapped and later killed, including a top aide to al-Sadr.

At the same time, the military said that, at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, it was releasing an al-Sadr aide it has held for more than two years. Officials also said U.S. forces also found and destroyed a car bomb factory in Baghdad and arrested an al-Qaida operative running it."