New import to  shake up PBA?

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US and Iraqi forces Friday captured a militant accused of smuggling lethal roadside bombs from Iran and working for an Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer after a fierce gunbattle, the US military said.

The joint snatch squad called in an air strike after coming under fire during a raid on the hideout of an alleged weapons smuggling gang in the notorious Sadr City district, a Shiite militia bastion in east Baghdad.

Residents of Sadr City, a densely packed Shiite suburb with an estimated two million inhabitants, awoke to a scene of devastation in a marketplace in the Dakhil area, with rubble from the air strike littering the area.

The Iraqi defence ministry said that four people were injured in the raid and six shops burned down.

Supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who maintain a large presence in the area, insisted that the only person seized in the raid was a 15-year-old boy.

"A large force raided and arrested a 15-year-old boy and burned a market for selling wood," said Abdel Mahdi al-Muteiri, a prominent member of Sadr's organisation in Baghdad.

"Why would such a large force come to arrest a boy while other parts of Iraq suffer from such a lack of security?" he asked.

The US military had no tally for casualties but maintained their target was the leader of an insurgent cell.

"Although there were no terrorists confirmed killed in the fighting, the opposing gunfire was subdued and Iraqi and coalition forces moved on to the objective," a statement from US command said.

"The individual detained during the raid is closely linked to a suspected leader in a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq."

EFPs are roadside bombs designed to fire a chunk of molten metal through the toughest armour plating. The United States accuses Tehran of smuggling hundreds of the devices to Iraq, where they have killed scores of US troops.

"Intelligence reports indicate the individual targeted is suspected of having direct ties to the leader of the EFP network as well as acting as a proxy for an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officer," the statement said.

Iranian and US officials will hold a rare face-to-face meeting in Baghdad next week to discuss the crisis in Iraq, where both accuse the other's forces of stirring up unrest.

In the past week, US and Iraqi forces have conducted a several raids targetting specific cell leaders in Sadr City, always accusing them of having ties to Iran.