Suggestion Box: 'Mahdi Army spawning!'

'sources' close to Muqtada? This story is not Kosher.

"(Reuters) - Anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army has spawned dozens of renegade splinter groups which frequently assassinate Iraqi officials on behalf of foreign sponsors, Sadrist and security officials say.
The Mehdi Army, which fought against U.S. troops after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has fractured into small, well-trained and well-armed criminal gangs involved in contract killings, kidnapping and extortion from homeowners, businessmen and government agencies, particularly in Baghdad.
A popular Shi'ite cleric who leads the militia as well as his own political bloc, Sadr has repudiated the splinter groups, describing them as "murderers" and "criminals," and has called on Iraqi security forces and tribes to expel them. "They have turned into mercenary groups which have no ideology or specific agenda. They are more like contract killers," said Major-General Hassan al-Baidhani, chief of staff for Baghdad's security operations command.
"They have no connection with Sadr offices or Moqtada al-Sadr," Baidhani said...
While the well-known Asaib al-Haq and Kata'ib Hizballah are the biggest Mehdi Army splinter groups, dozens of others have appeared, working as mercenaries and killing for sponsors inside and outside Iraq, Sadrist and Iraqi security officials said.
"They have become an intelligence tool employed by Iran to terminate its opponents in Iraq," said a senior Sadrist leader close to Moqtada al-Sadr who asked not to be identified.
Sadrist sources said the groups are funded and trained by Iran and use weapons similar to those of the Iraqi security forces -- M16 rifles and Glock pistols.
"The problem ... is that Sayed Moqtada does not order their termination. He fears the (rebellion) that will be created between the sons of the same sect," the Sadrist leader said.
"Also he does not want to collide with the Iranians now. The (Sadrist) movement still needs them," he said..."