Officials: Clashes in Iraq's Sadr City kill 11

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD - A fragile cease-fire failed to stop fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City where the latest clashes between Shiite extremists and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces killed 11 men and wounded 19, Iraqi hospital officials said Tuesday.

The U.S. military said that it responded to several attacks by militants with precision strikes, but only confirmed killing three militants. Two of the militants were killed in a Hellfire missile strike by an attack aircraft, according to the military. U.S. soldiers also suppressed "enemy fire" in four other clashes with tanks and attack aircraft, the military said.

The clashes erupted late Monday, just hours after Iraq's main Shiite political bloc and supporters of firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr signed a cease-fire with the hope of ending seven-weeks of fighting that has left hundreds of people dead in the capital.

It was not immediately clear if the those killed in the clashes, which escalated early Tuesday, were militants or civilians. There were women and children among the wounded, said hospital officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=AkhBI.U2p5_9jsxVgHx8vksLewgF

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Shi'ite gunmen in Baghdad ignore truce
By Tim Cocks and Waleed Ibrahim
2 hours, 10 minutes ago



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An agreement aimed at ending fighting in the Baghdad bastion of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was on the verge of collapse on Tuesday after gunmen launched a spate of attacks on U.S. troops.

The deal between the ruling Shi'ite alliance and Sadr's opposition movement in parliament to end fighting in the Sadr City slum district was formally signed on Monday.

But with the ink barely dry on the 16-point pact, clashes flared overnight, raising questions over how much control the anti-American cleric has over some of the Mehdi Army militiamen who profess allegiance to him.

"It is clear that Sadr does not control all of the armed groups that make up the Mehdi Army," Kadhum al-Muqdadi, a professor at Baghdad University, told Reuters. "This fighting could last a long time."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc

[EFerrari]

1. Maybe these folks would calm down if we stop bombing their homes.

Digging my kids out of rubble would make me pretty mad.

[maddezmom]

2. Mortar fire strikes 2 Iraqi government buildings in Baghdad

Mortar fire strikes 2 Iraqi government buildings in Baghdad
Posted: 11:54 AM ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Attackers in Baghdad fired mortars at two Iraqi government buildings, the Interior Ministry said.

Three mortars slammed into the Interior Ministry building in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday night. There was no word on casualties or damages.

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/13/mortar-fire-strikes-2-iraqi-government-buildings-in-baghdad/