BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces arrested two locally prominent supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr today as part of their crackdown against Shiite militias in the southern city of Amarah, police and an al-Sadr spokesman said.

The spokesman, Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, criticized the arrests, saying the Iraqi government was targeting the cleric's movement and violating the spirit of agreements made in talks with the government in the run-up to the Amarah operation.

Both police and al-Obaidi identified the arrested men as Abdul-Jabar Wahid Humaidi — head of the provincial council in Maysan, where Amarah is the capital — and Fadhil Niama, head of the council's security committee. Police said the men were suspected of supporting Shiite militias.

"The security forces broke into their houses and arrested them in front of their families in an uncivilized manner," al-Obaidi said.

Sadrists had promised to cooperate with the Shiite-led government's operation in Amarah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, so long as Iraqi troops did not make arrests without warrants or commit other human rights violations. Al-Obaidi said today that the government was not sticking to the agreement.