IRAQ:US FORCES said they killed 34 militiamen in a Baghdad stronghold of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday in a series of clashes including one street battle that raged for four hours.
Doctors at the two hospitals in the Iraqi cleric's bastion of Sadr City said they had received the bodies of 21 people killed, and 62 wounded. They said women and children were among the casualties. Reuters Television footage showed firemen pulling the body of a young boy, covered in dust, from the rubble of a house that had been destroyed. It was unclear what had hit the building. The body of another child was seen being brought to a hospital. Six US soldiers were wounded, the military said.
Security forces have been fighting militiamen loyal to the anti-American cleric for weeks in the slum but the latest battles mark an escalation.
Fighting has flared since Sunday when gunmen used the cover of dust storms to attack US and Iraqi positions, despite a call by al-Sadr to observe a shaky truce he has threatened to scrap unless the government ends raids on his Mahdi army militia.
The attacks by militants indicate some fighters claiming allegiance to al-Sadr are ignoring his call for a truce, raising questions about how far he controls them and whether he is sincere about wanting to defuse the conflict.
A US military spokesman in Baghdad said there had been no air strikes in Sadr City but troops had used ground-based multiple-launch guided rockets, which had struck militants firing from buildings, alleys and roofs.
"It was these militants who initiated the engagement by attacking US soldiers," he said.
He said 28 gunmen were killed in one four-hour battle yesterday that erupted in mid-morning when militants ambushed American troops with roadside bombs, grenades and small arms.
The deaths brought to 79 the number of militants the US says it killed since Sunday. - (Reuters)