جيش المهدي
As of August 2006, the Mahdi Army rarely challenged coalition troops on a wide scale. Neither the coalition nor the Iraqi government made any move to arrest al-Sadr. The Mahdi Army participated in battles against Sunni insurgents and operated its own justice system in the areas it controlled. The Mahdi army operated death squads that frequently killed Sunni civilians particularly during the civil war phase of the Iraq war.