Arrest warrants issued after blast in Sadr's Baghdad stronghold

The blast hit a stronghold of Shia leader and Sadrist Movement founder Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc won Iraq's 12 May elections that became marred with accusations of fraud. 

The arrests come one day after Sadr announced he would team up with runner-up and ideological opposite Hadi al-Amiri's bloc. 

Sadr, whose followers fought US forces in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has fashioned himself as an anti-graft nationalist and has called for less foreign meddling. Amiri's Badr militia, which played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State, is a close ally of Iran. 

Photos from the scene of last Wednesday's blast, which also left more than 90 wounded, showed a bombed out car and building.

An interior ministry spokesman said the blast was a result of an ammunitions cache that detonated while it was being transferred from a mosque to a nearby car.

However, state TV earlier cited a ministry spokesman as saying the blast was a result of "terrorist aggression". 

Authorities did not clarify why two conflicting statements were issued. 

In May, two bombs targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi Communist Party, which joined Sadr's bloc in this year's election. 

Last week Iraq's parliament ordered a manual recount of the vote and sacked the commission which oversaw the polls that resulted in a surprise victory for Sadr.

Agencies contributed to this report. 

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