Maliki rounding up the usual suspects

Following on the Karbala violence that was blamed on the Mahdi, Maliki appears to have ordered nationwide arrests of Mahdi figures, even those unrelated to the Karbala violence.

Also, (AP) In Basra, "gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated Muslim al-Batat, an aide to the country's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, police said." (After years of being off limits, Sistani's aides are becoming targets.)