BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Pentagon said a convoy of civilians traveling near Nasiriyah was hijacked on Thursday, while earlier in the day the Shi'ite-led Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for the top leader of the country's Sunni minority. The move was certain to inflame already raging sectarian violence.

Iraqi soldiers are deployed on the streets of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006. Deadly attacks continued in the capital, with suspected insurgents and militias using guns, bombs and mortar shells. [AP]

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said preliminary reports suggested there could be as many as 14 people captured and that the convoy included about 19 vehicles.

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ABC News reported that four of those captured were believed to be Americans. Nasiriyah is the capital of Dhi Qar province, where Italy formally handed over security responsibility to Iraqi forces in late September.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, a Shi'ite, announced Thursday on state television that Harith al-Dhari was wanted for inciting terrorism and violence among the Iraqi people.

Al-Dhari, head of the influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars, is an extreme hard-liner who recently mocked a government offer of reconciliation in return for abandoning the insurgency. But the move against him threatens to drive many moderate Sunnis out of the political system.

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