Baghdad, May 27 (IANS): Iraqi security personnel have arrested a leader in the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization Forces over terrorism charges, raising a state of emergency in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC), said: "Security forces arrested at dawn Qasim Mahmoud Karim Muslih, commander of Hashd Shaabi forces in Anbar province according to an arrest warrant issued by the Iraqi judiciary over charges of terrorism."

The statement did not give further details about the charges against Muslih but said that the arrest does not target any military and security party, stressing that all military and security services are under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi forces, reports Xinhua news agency.

The arrest sparked a state of emergency in the Green Zone, which houses some of the main Iraqi government offices and some foreign embassies, as security forces deployed surrounding the zone and blocked all its entrances, a police source told Xinhua.

The official Iraqi News Agency said that Muslih was questioned by a committee composed of military intelligence, JOC, and Hashd Shaabi.

Meanwhile, Qais al-Khazali, head of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Movement, a major Shia militant group, demanded that Muslih be handed over to the Hashd Shaabi security service, considering the arrest "as an attempt to confuse the security situation".

According to local media reports, Muslih was arrested in his home in Doura district in southern Baghdad, and leading Shia politicians are holding meetings with the government and Hashd Shaabi leading figures to ease the tension in the Iraqi capital.