IRAQ:Iraqi troops backed by US forces battled gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City yesterday in the heaviest fighting in the capital since Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his militiamen off the streets a week ago.
Police said at least 22 people were killed in the clashes. Officials at Sadr City's two hospitals said at least 16 bodies had been brought in, while 78 wounded people were treated.
Iraqi soldiers were moving through two southern sectors of the Shia slum and stronghold of the cleric's al-Mahdi army militia, said US military spokesman Lieut Col Steven Stover. US helicopters fired at least two Hellfire missiles, killing nine fighters, he added.
The fighting follows a week of relative calm after a crackdown by prime minister Nuri al-Maliki on Mr Sadr's followers led to battles across the capital and the south late last month.
The unrest comes two days before US ambassador Ryan Crocker and US commander Gen David Petraeus are due to deliver key testimony to the US Congress on progress in Iraq. Police said the joint US-Iraqi military operation began early yesterday. Gunfire could be heard throughout the day in Sadr City, home to two million people in eastern Baghdad.
Lieut Gen Abboud Qanbar, head of the Iraqi military in Baghdad, reiterated an order from Mr Maliki for all armed groups to hand in their weapons.
"If they refuse to surrender their arms, we will confiscate them," Lieut Gen Qanbar told reporters at a police station in Sadr City.
Al-Mahdi army fighters bristled at the raids. "I have lost my cousin in these clashes today. I think Maliki will be happy now," a street commander giving his name as Abu Ammar told Reuters.
US Apache helicopter gunships swooped overhead and a column of black smoke towered over the Jamila market, a vast bazaar on the edge of the slum that supplies food for much of the eastern half of the capital.
"Criminals fired rockets and they hit the Jamila market. I don't know how many people they killed," Lieut Col Stover said. An interior ministry source said the fire blazed unchecked for hours because firefighters were unable to reach the market.US and Iraqi forces have imposed a blockade on vehicle traffic in and out of Sadr City for two weeks. Residents of the besieged district describe skyrocketing food prices, rubbish piling up and claustrophobia from being trapped indoors.
"We haven't been able to sleep since this fighting started two weeks ago," said Wardan Ali, a student from Sadr City forced to walk 10 km (6 miles) on foot each way to university because of the blockade.
Mr Sadr's bloc in parliament denounced the raids.
"The intervention of US forces is horrible and unjustified. Some people in Sadr city believe these forces will hunt and kill them," said Hassan Hashem, a Sadrist member of the parliament's security committee.
Mr Sadr has called for 1 million Iraqis to march against US "occupiers" on Wednesday when Mr Crocker and Gen Petraeus are due to conclude two days of testimony before the US Congress.
- (Reuters)