BAGHDAD —

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Iraqi police say 14 Shiite gunmen possess been arrested during clashes in southern Iraq.

A police officer says the fighting broke out before break of day near Nassiriyah as Iraqi forces were conducting house-to-house searches in the area. The officer spoke upon the body condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

The incorporated town is a fortification of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. It has seen frequent fighting amid a fierce sovereignty struggle between rival Shiite factions.