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Area south of Baghdad raided

U.S. and Iraqi forces seize 30 suspected Shiite insurgents and credit residents' help.

BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces, backed by Polish army helicopters, swept through Shiite militia strongholds south of Baghdad on Saturday, rounding up dozens of militants and killing two. The prime minister met the provincial governor, who called for reinforcements to root out "the criminals."

Iraqi police said 30 suspected fighters linked to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army were grabbed in a predawn house-to-house search by U.S. and Iraqi raiders in two eastern neighborhoods in Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad.

Rival Shiite militias are engaged in grabs for power in the oil-rich south of the country, as British forces are drawing down. But U.S. commanders have reported significant inroads against both Shiite militias and al-Qaida in Iraq fighters across the fertile agriculture belt nearer to the capital.

They credit local residents, emboldened against the terror tactics of both al-Qaida and Shiite militants, with much of the success. The residents have bought into a trend that started in Iraq's western Anbar province, where Sunni tribesmen rose up against al-Qaida and have hunted them down in conjunction with U.S. forces.

South of the capital, Shiite militiamen are facing the same onslaught in communities where they have terrorized residents.

On Diwaniyah's east side, U.S.-led ground forces backed by two Polish army helicopters came under fire from machine guns and an antitank grenade launcher, the military said.

Coalition forces reported no casualties but said two militants were killed in the sweep. The statement reporting the operation said the Polish helicopters were called in after ground forces were attacked with three roadside bombs and small-arms fire.

The governor of Qadisiyah province, which includes Diwaniyah, met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad on Saturday to ask for help boosting security in the region.

Gov. Hamid al-Khudhari dismissed concerns of rising tensions between Sadr's group and the governor's party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, whose militia is known as the Badr Brigade. Khudhari replaced Gov. Mohammed al-Hassani, who was assassinated by a powerful roadside bomb in August. Mahdi Army militants were suspected in the attack.

"There have been outlawed armed groups trying to take control of the province for a long time," he said after the meeting. "They are only criminals, and we do not believe that there is political party that backs them."

Sadr and the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, signed a truce this month. Khudari appeared at pains to give the impression that the cease-fire was holding.

Police also clashed with gunmen in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, during a raid in which they detained a Sadrist leader, local authorities said without identifying the suspect. Late Saturday, a mortar round crashed near the Shiite shrine to Imam Al-Abbas in the city center, killing one person and wounding two, according to police.

In all, at least 26 people were reported killed or found dead in attacks nationwide.

The U.S. military also announced that a U.S. soldier was killed and eight others wounded in a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad on Thursday.

[Last modified October 21, 2007, 01:57:21]