US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad have arrested the deputy health minister during a raid at his offices. The minister, Hakim al-Zamili, is a key member of the political group led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. He is accused of aiding Shia militiamen and using ambulances to move weapons, a ministry source told the BBC.The raid on the health ministry took place on Thursday morning. Iraqi officials say US and Iraqi troops broke down doors in the ministry's offices in central Baghdad in their search for Mr Zamili. The minister and some of his guards were arrested.
Mr Sadr's group accused the US of provocation and urged the government to take immediate action to free the official. "They are trying to drag the Sadrist movement to a confrontation. How else would arresting a deputy health minister without an arrest warrant be read," Abdel Mahdi al-Matiri, an official in Mr Sadr's movement, told Reuters news agency. The raid on the Iraqi health ministry comes more than two months after suspected Sunni insurgents tried to storm the building, triggering a fierce gun battle.