Shiite militia

(Newser) - Qais al-Mamouri, a major US ally respected for his non-sectarian work as police chief in violent Babil province, was killed today by a roadside bomb, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Five successive explosions ripped through al-Mamouri’s US-issued SUV, killing him and two others. Less than an hour earlier a...

(Newser) - US officials are holding their noses and negotiating with the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the LA Times reports. The US has held a hard line against the radical cleric, but analysts say that the military has grudgingly accepted that the Mahdi Army is currently holding...

(Newser) - Iran's elite military branch, the Revolutionary Guard, will be officially designated a terrorist organization by the US, the Washington Post reports. The declaration will allow Washington to block assets and disrupt the operations of businesses linked to the unit worldwide. The 125,000-member Guard, a  powerful political force, is increasingly...