Fierce clashes in Baghdad slum kill 34

BAGHDAD, Iraq – US forces battled insurgents loyal to Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City yesterday, in clashes that killed 34 people, including one American soldier, and wounded 193, US and Iraqi authorities said.

US tanks moved into the neighbourhood and armored personnel carriers and Bradley fighting vehicles were deployed at key intersections. Ambulances with sirens wailing rushed the wounded to hospitals as plumes of black smoke rose into the sky.Several warplanes flew over the sprawling neighbourhood of more than two million.In another part of the Iraqi capital, a roadside bomb targeted the Baghdad governor’s convoy, killing two people but leaving him uninjured, the interior ministry said.Three of Ali al-Haidri’s bodyguards were also hurt in the attack yesterday in the western neighborhood of Hay al-Adel.The fighting in Sadr City erupted when militants attacked US forces carrying out routine patrols, said US Army Captain Brian O’Malley.”We just kept coming under fire,” he said.O’Malley said the American soldier was killed by small-arms fire and that several others were wounded.A senior health ministry official, Saad al-Amili, said 33 Iraqis have been killed and 193 injured in the Sadr City clashes in the past 24 hours.An al-Sadr spokesman in Baghdad, Sheik Raed al-Kadhimi, blamed what he described as intrusive American incursions into Sadr City and attempts to arrest the cleric’s followers.”Our fighters have no choice but to return fire and to face the US forces and helicopters pounding our houses,” al-Kadhimi said in a statement.The impoverished neighborhood had been relatively calm since al-Sadr called for cease-fire last week and announced he was going into politics.Al-Sadr led a three-week uprising in the holy city of Najaf that ended 10 days ago with a peace deal that allowed his Mahdi militia fighters to walk away with their guns.The combat in Najaf left thousands dead and devastated much of the city.Many Mahdi militiamen are believed to have returned to their stronghold in Sadr City.Yesterdays violence came a day after a suicide attack on a military convoy outside Fallujah killed seven US Marines and three Iraqi soldiers, US military officials said.It was the deadliest day for American forces in four months.A group linked to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -Tawhid and Jihad – posted a statement on the Internet yesterday claiming responsibility for the slayings.The force of the blast on a dusty stretch of wasteland nine miles north of Fallujah, wrecked two Humvees and hurled the suicide car’s engine far from the site, witnesses said.Nampa-APAmbulances with sirens wailing rushed the wounded to hospitals as plumes of black smoke rose into the sky.Several warplanes flew over the sprawling neighbourhood of more than two million.In another part of the Iraqi capital, a roadside bomb targeted the Baghdad governor’s convoy, killing two people but leaving him uninjured, the interior ministry said.Three of Ali al-Haidri’s bodyguards were also hurt in the attack yesterday in the western neighborhood of Hay al-Adel.The fighting in Sadr City erupted when militants attacked US forces carrying out routine patrols, said US Army Captain Brian O’Malley.”We just kept coming under fire,” he said.O’Malley said the American soldier was killed by small-arms fire and that several others were wounded.A senior health ministry official, Saad al-Amili, said 33 Iraqis have been killed and 193 injured in the Sadr City clashes in the past 24 hours.An al-Sadr spokesman in Baghdad, Sheik Raed al-Kadhimi, blamed what he described as intrusive American incursions into Sadr City and attempts to arrest the cleric’s followers.”Our fighters have no choice but to return fire and to face the US forces and helicopters pounding our houses,” al-Kadhimi said in a statement.The impoverished neighborhood had been relatively calm since al-Sadr called for cease-fire last week and announced he was going into politics.Al-Sadr led a three-week uprising in the holy city of Najaf that ended 10 days ago with a peace deal that allowed his Mahdi militia fighters to walk away with their guns.The combat in Najaf left thousands dead and devastated much of the city.Many Mahdi militiamen are believed to have returned to their stronghold in Sadr City.Yesterdays violence came a day after a suicide attack on a military convoy outside Fallujah killed seven US Marines and three Iraqi soldiers, US military officials said.It was the deadliest day for American forces in four months.A group linked to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -Tawhid and Jihad – posted a statement on the Internet yesterday claiming responsibility for the slayings.The force of the blast on a dusty stretch of wasteland nine miles north of Fallujah, wrecked two Humvees and hurled the suicide car’s engine far from the site, witnesses said. Nampa-AP