IRAQ: Overnight clashes in and around Sadr City kills 6 militants - U.S. forces say

Record ID: 340337

  • Title: IRAQ: Overnight clashes in and around Sadr City kills 6 militants - U.S. forces say
  • Date: 29th April 2008
  • Summary: (BN07) SADR CITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 29, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF WRECKAGE/ PEOPLE REMOVING RUBBLE ONLOOKERS WRECKAGE PEOPLE LOOKING AT DAMAGE HOLE IN A CAR DOOR HOLE IN WALL OF DAMAGED HOUSE DESTROYED BELONGINGS
  • Embargoed: 14th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA5C7QEUYFQGJ9QQLRIXP3JW5V
  • Story Text: U.S. forces fended off attacks from Shi'ite militiamen in Baghdad early on Tuesday (April 29), killing six of them in fresh fighting in and around the capital's volatile Sadr City slum, the U.S. military said.
    The attacks, which seem to show some followers of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are ignoring his call for a truce, brought the total number of militants killed since a flare up of violence on Sunday evening to 51.
    "At 1:00 in the morning, we returned fire on two criminals who were firing at us. We killed one of them," spokesman for the U.S.
    military in Baghdad Steven Stover said.
    An hour later militants fired on a U.S. patrol with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the slum.
    "A Bradley infantry fighting vehicle returned fire, killing five of them. One U.S. soldier was wounded, not seriously. He was treated and returned to duty," he said.
    Militants claiming allegiance to Sadr have stepped up attacks against U.S. forces in Sadr City, under cover of blinding dust storms.
    The strikes, despite Sadr's truce call, raise question about the degree to which Sadr controls his fighters or is seeking to avoid confrontation with U.S. and government forces.
    The storms have grounded U.S. Apache attack helicopters which hunt rocket and mortar teams, enabling fighters to fire salvoes of rockets at targets in Baghdad, including at its heavily fortified Green Zone.
    Witnesses in the Kamaliyah district, near Sadr City, said the clashes also damaged their houses and shops. They said there were casualties but hospital or official sources have not confirmed. One man said a strike damaged a building. It was not clear if the strike was caused by gunmen firing mortars or a U.S. airstrike.
    ''People up there died, animals perished. Shops were destroyed. They had nothing to do with anything. We closed our shops in the afternoon only to come back in the morning and find the building destroyed. It was strikes at night,'' said Abu Omar, owner of one of the destroyed shops.
    Four U.S. soldiers were killed in rocket or mortar attacks in the Iraqi capital on Monday, the military said.
    Dust storms continued on Tuesday, making more such attacks likely.
    Stover said U.S. troops on Tuesday had recovered three 81 mm Iranian-made mortars. The U.S. accuses Iran of backing elements of the Sadrist militias, a charge Tehran denies.
    U.S. and Iraqi troops have been locked in a month of fighting with militiamen since Maliki, himself a Shi'ite, ordered an offensive in the southern oil city of Basra.
    After early setbacks, the Basra offensive appears to have been successful in driving militiamen from the streets. But fighting has continued in Baghdad, mostly around Sadr City.
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