Gypsy Town Razed by Militant Sadrists as Den of Iniquity
The Financial Times reports, a little belatedly, that Muqtada al-Sadr’s Army of the Mahdi militia raided and destroyed the town of Kawlia near Diwaniyah about 3 weeks ago.
Kawlia was a center of Iraqi “gypsies,” dancing girls and prostitutes, and was a concern to the people of Diwaniyah as a place to where wives were running off to make money and sex tourism was flourishing, along with some kidnaping of girls to make them work there. The Army of the Mahdi in Diwaniyah, loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, assaulted the town and reduced it to rubble.
In Diwaniyah the Army of the Mahdi appears to provide security in the streets, and runs informal courts and even jails.