If the Awakening Council leader is found guilty of the charges, it would affirm widespread government doubts about integrating the Sunni fighters into the nation's security forces — despite their alliance with the US against Al-Qaeda. It could also signal that the militia's frustration about being sidelined by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government may have finally reached a boiling point.
The arrest was announced as anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr headed back to Iran, according to two senior aides, after a brief two-week visit breaking nearly four years of self-exile.
The populist firebrand Shiite cleric, who leads a powerful political movement, left Iraq early Saturday, according to the two aides.
Security forces were tipped off about the Awakening Council chief in Hillah just hours after the Thursday blasts that killed 56 outside the holy city of Karbala, said Maj. Gen. Numan Dakhil, commander of Iraq's SWAT teams. The blasts struck crowds of people who were headed to local shrines.
Dakhil said the militia leader and an assistant were arrested early Friday in Hillah, about 95 km south of Baghdad, which US and Iraqi security officials believe has become a haven for insurgents. Both men are accused of links to the Islamic Army in Iraq, a nationalist insurgent group of mostly Sunnis, many former soldiers.
Also known as Sahwa or Sons of Iraq, the Awakening Councils are made up of Sunni fighters who sided with US forces against Al-Qaeda in a crucial turning point of the war. But many Shiite officials are deeply suspicious of their role during Iraq's darkest days of sectarian violence.
For their part, the Awakening Councils have been frustrated with the government for years, saying they risked their lives to battle Al-Qaeda, only to be shut out of the nation's security forces and left at the mercy of vengeful extremists.
A broad plan to absorb the Awakening Councils into security forces or other government jobs, and to give them benefits, has been stalled by Iraqi leaders who say they don't have the money to hire the estimated 51,900 fighters.
Thursday's triple suicide bombings on the pilgrims outraged Shiite clerics who accused security forces of continually failing to outwit the insurgents and protect the Iraqi people. It also prompted a Sadrist lawmaker to renew offers to reassemble Sadr's feared militia that is alleged to have engaged in rampant revenge killings of Sunnis for years.
In his only public speech during his two weeks in Iraq, Sadr urged his followers to renounce sectarian violence even as he whipped up the crowd of about 20,000 into an anti-American frenzy.
An aide to Sadr said he has gone back to Iran after only a short stay in Iraq.
The senior Sadrist official said the cleric left Iraq early Saturday. It was not known when he would return.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Al-Sadr's surprise return to Iraq this month was part of his campaign to gain boost his credibility in the nation's political and religious circles after nearly four years in voluntary exile in Iran.
He met with an array of leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, during his two-week visit.
