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Top Iraqi official held in raid BBC US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad have arrested the deputy health minister
during a raid at his offices. He is accused of aiding Shia militiamen and using ambulances to move weapons, a ministry source told the BBC. US and Iraqi troops have been trying to curb sectarian attacks in Iraq. The latest raid came as a car bomb killed at least 17 people south of Baghdad. A parked car bomb struck a market in the predominantly Shia town of al-Aziziya, also wounding dozens of people. 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. In other developments across Iraq:
Four policemen and a civilian are killed during an attack on a patrol in Baquba, north of Baghdad The US investigates a possible attack on a civilian helicopter on 31
January, following five US helicopter crashes in Iraq in the past 10 days,
AP news agency says. US and Iraqi forces have announced a major offensive in the Baghdad area, aimed at ending spiralling violence by Sunni and Shia militants. The BBC's Jane Peel in Baghdad says that in the past some members of Iraq's governing Iraqi coalition have provided militias with protection. Last month the US military said operations had led to 16 senior members of Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army militia being detained and one commander being killed. On Wednesday Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki urged his military commanders to speed up preparations for the new security measures in Baghdad. He said a delay in implementing the US-backed plan had started to give a negative message. ---------------------------------------------------
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