(dpa) - Iraqi security forces detained on Sunday five aides to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the city of Basra, some 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, Sadrist sources said.
Hareth al-Azari, Shiite Sadrists, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Iraqi security forces arrested five Sadrists in different areas in Basra.
"We knew that the five men were assaulted by the security forces," al-Azari said.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Howaidy, an Iraqi army personnel, told dpa that security forces were carrying out search operations for banned weapons in the districts of Hayaniya and Hussein.
He said that large numbers of weapons have been confiscated and scores of illegal militants have been detained.
Earlier, Iraqi defence minister said that forces found an Iranian weapon cache and a number of explosives in Basra, the Iraqi al-Sabah newspaper said.
Separately, a US soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb went off targeting a US patrol in Jabla area in the city of Hillah, some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, eyewitnesses told dpa.
Reacting to the explosion, soldiers randomly opened fire, killing one civilian, local witnesses said.