BAGHDAD, Iraq - Coalition forces conducted a raid Monday in Sadr City, the stronghold of a Shi'ite militia suspected of having kidnapped scores of civilians. Iraqi forces searched and damaged a mosque during the operation Monday, but made no arrests, the US military said.

US and Iraqi soldiers take combat positions in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006. US and Iraqi forces killed 12 insurgents, detained 11, and freed eight Iraqi hostages while conducting raids in Baqouba and two villages near Kirkuk. [AP]

The Iraqi forces, acting with the assistance of US military advisers, also destroyed a vehicle near the mosque that was posing a threat to the ground forces, the coalition said.

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Iraqi and US forces suffered no casualties.

In Sadr City, an official at the main office of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said several homes were searched and three Iraqis arrested during the 3 a.m. raid but that no clashes or casualties resulted.

The military said Monday's operation was called in the large Shi'ite slum of eastern Baghdad to search for a cell of more than 30 Iraqis who are "responsible for kidnapping, torturing and murdering Iraqi civilians and soldiers," the military said.

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