THE radical Shiâite leader Moqtada al-Sadr has authorised his militia to kidnap two Britons in Iraq in the hope of swapping them for two of his senior officials who are held in Basra by British forces. A senior official from al-Sadrâs Mahdi army in Baghdad said that al-Sadr had given the order after last monthâs dramatic rescue of two SAS men whom he had been hoping to use as bargaining chips. The source said al-Sadr had given British authorities until yesterday to release his men, but they had failed to do so. âIn return for our two officials, two Britons will be taken,â the source said. The two need not necessarily be from the British military, but could be civilians, he added. The source claimed that the Mahdi army had already pinpointed two British targets working for private security companies in the affluent Mansour district of Baghdad. Several British security firms have bases in the area. Last year two British nationals â Kenneth Bigley and Margaret Hassan â were kidnapped and executed by Sunni extremists. The detained men â Sheikh Ahmed Majid Farttusi and Sayyid Sajjad â have been accused by coalition forces of involvement in attacks that killed at least nine soldiers, including two Britons, in the past two months. Their arrests provoked protests by dozens of Mahdi army members with assault rifles who marched to the provincial governorâs office. When the two SAS men were arrested shortly afterwards by Basraâs security forces for âsuspicious behaviourâ and allegedly shooting a policeman in the leg, they were handed to al-Sadrâs militia â with the apparent intention that they would be bartered for the detained militiamen.