Differing accounts about role of Mahdi Army

Aqeel Hussein reports for the Telegraph: Sheik Mahmoud al-Hassani, a spokesman for the Mahdi Army, said: "We are sure that all the Palestinians in Iraq are involved in killing the Shi'ite people and they have to pay the price now. They lived off our blood under Saddam. We were hungry with no food and they were comfortable with full bellies. They should leave now, or they will have to pay." (al-Hassani seems to be the leader of a fringe movement that broke away from Muqtada Sadr, so the Telegraph may be mistaken in calling him a spokesman for the Mahdi Army, which is anyway very diverse. Another report attributes "the final warning" to Palestinians in Iraq to leave the country within a month, or "pay the price" to "Muhammad al-Husseini, spokesman for Muqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army". It is unclear which name is correct.)

Kareem Zakia, a 61-year-old Palestinian, said his son, Yeha Ahmed, was kidnapped and killed in the Karada area of Baghdad two weeks ago. "The kidnappers called me and told me that they had taken my son because he came from Palestine and all the Palestinians support the Sunni terrorists. I found my son's body the next day with many holes in his belly made by a drill." Ahmed Mahmood, 26, a Palestinian in Baladiat, said he had paid a ransom of nearly $6,000 to free his brother, Murad, 38. The kidnappers in Sadr City, a Shi'ite area of Baghdad, told him where to collect his brother, but he arrived to find his brother had been killed. "We found him dead with signs of torture on his body," Mr. Mahmood said. "They called us the next day and said, 'We killed your brother because all the Palestinians in Iraq love Saddam Hussein and this is what will happen to you and all your families.' " Capt. Sary Farhan, a police spokesman, said people had been arrested for the killings but later released. "All these criminals belong to Shi'ite militias and were released a few days after. They have strong backing in the government."

However the Palestinian Authority's envoy, Dalil al-Qassus, denied that the Mahdi Army have threatened Palestinians: "The Mahdi Army wouldn't act this way, since it is a confessional Islamic army and hence wouldn't harm its Palestinian brethren." He said he had "many contacts with Sadr's faction, including several parliamentarians... The Palestinians in Iraq are suffering in the same way as Iraqi citizens mainly through the instability and security problems as well as acts of aggression carried out by unknown armed group."