Iraqi militia fighter killed

Iraqi soldiers killed a Sunni Arab fighter from a U.S.-allied local militia unit Tuesday and arrested his brother, Iraqi police said.

Basim Mohammed was shot during a raid in Abu Ghraib, a predominantly Sunni district on the western outskirts of Baghdad, a police source in the district said. The official, who declined to be named, did not say what charges Mohammed or his brother may have been facing.

Mohammed was a member of a local Awakening Council, the mainly Sunni Arab guard units including many former insurgents who switched sides in late 2006 to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq. The guards have helped drastically cut violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq where insurgents once held sway.

Mohammed and his brother were bodyguards to Abu Maarouf, a once prominent Awakening leader in the Abu Ghraib area who is now on the run from Iraqi authorities.

The Awakening militias were backed and paid by U.S. forces until the Iraqi government took control of them in recent months. Since then, their salaries have fallen behind schedule and a number of them have been arrested.

Many regard the Shiite-led government with suspicion and have been dismayed by salary delays, attacks on guard units, and a spate of arrests.

On Sunday, Iraqi forces arrested Nadim Jibouri, an Awakening chief and religious leader in Salahuddin province. In late March, Iraqi forces seized Adel Mashadani, head of another guard unit in Baghdad’s Fadhil neighborhood, sparking clashes that killed several people.

Other guards have been detained or attacked. Iraqi officials deny that the government is targeting them because of their sect or insurgent past.