Several Iraqi officials said the policemen working there belonged to a powerful Iranian-trained Shiite militia called the Badr Organization.

Mr. Sadr commands a powerful militia, the Mahdi Army.

Problems ahead I think, seems the more powerful militias are reluctant to join in a national police force and army.

The 34-day war in 2006 with the powerful Lebanese Shiite militia, killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

But he said one powerful militia, which answers to Moktada al-Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric, remained outside of any government control.

Instead, he bows to Shiite leaders in the coalition who control the two most powerful militias, the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization.

Mr. Sadr, who commands a powerful and often unruly militia, has instructed his fighters not to resist the latest security plan.

On December 10, 2011, a gun battle between Libya's new army and a powerful militia took place at the airport.

The report criticized United States intelligence officials for failing to answer basic questions about the Sunni insurgency or the increasingly powerful Shiite militias.

As a result these powerful militias, it seemed as of late 2006, were leading reprisal acts of violence against the Sunni minority.