U.S. forces extend Baghdad push to militia haven

By Dean Yates and Claudia Parsons

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops met no resistance on Sunday when they searched homes for illegal weapons and carried out patrols in a Shi'ite militia bastion in Baghdad.

The operations in Sadr City, stronghold of the Mehdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, could test Iraqi and U.S. determination to enforce a security crackdown regarded as a last attempt to stop Iraq sliding into all-out sectarian civil war.

"Deliberate clearing operations have begun in Sadr City," said U.S. military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver. More raids will follow in the coming days, he said.

A U.S. military statement said 600 American and 550 Iraqi security forces backed by American Stryker armored vehicles took part in the operation. It said no one was detained nor any weapons caches found. There was no violence.

The young firebrand cleric, a key supporter of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, has criticized the crackdown and said it will fail as long as U.S. forces are involved.

Raids had been expected in Sadr City after U.S. and Iraqi commanders met community leaders last week to give them advance warning of the incursions and to seek their support.

Many members of the Mehdi Army are either lying low or have left Baghdad, unlike in 2004 when the militia twice rose up against American forces. Washington calls the Mehdi Army the greatest threat to Iraq's security.

"I don't know whether he has had a change of heart, but certainly there is a change in tactics," U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told CNN, referring to Sadr.