Up to nine people were killed in clashes between US troops and the Mehdi Army militia of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in eastern Baghdad early today, police and witnesses said.
An Interior Ministry source said the clashes erupted when US forces raided houses in the slum district of Sadr City, a stronghold, of Sadr's Mehdi Army. There was no immediate comment from the US military.
