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18 Iraqis killed in Sadr City
24/05/2004 15:59 - (SA)
Baghdad - At least 18 Iraqis were killed and 12 wounded in fighting between US troops and militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr in the Shiite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad, hospital sources said on Monday.
But a US military officer based in Sadr City said 26 militiamen were killed and four wounded in various incidents involving attacks on US patrols between 16:00 on Sunday and 06:00 on Monday.
"It is a bunch of small sporadic events that add up," Captain Brian O'Malley of the 1st Brigade Combat Team said.
He said there were up to 12 US patrols during the period throughout Sadr City, in the northern part of the capital, and that many of them were attacked by "anti-Iraqi and anti-coalition forces" with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, forcing soldiers to respond.
Al-Thawra hospital in the teeming Sadr stronghold said it received "17 dead and six wounded," according to director Kassem Marthur.
Another body and six injured people were taken to Sadr General hospital, according to Dr Abdul Jabbar al-Zubaidi.
On Saturday US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said that a deal to halt combat patrols by the US-led coalition in the district for five days had collapsed due to continued attacks.
The agreement had been brokered with tribal leaders, Kimmitt added.
Sadr, who has been holed up in the central Shiite holy city of Najaf for close to two months, sparked a revolt against the coalition in early April.
- AFP
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