World Apr. 30, 2008 - 06:27AM JST ( 18 )

BAGHDAD —

At least 37 people were killed in Baghdad’s Shiite militia bastion of Sadr City on Tuesday, as gunmen clashed with U.S. soldiers under cover of a severe sandstorm.

Several rockets or mortar rounds also struck the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified government compound, as militants took advantage of the absence of U.S. air cover during the storm, witnesses said.

In one of the most intense firefights in weeks, the American soldiers killed 28 militants in Sadr City, stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the military said.

Four U.S. soldiers were also wounded in the fighting that began at around 9:30 a.m.

The fighting erupted when a U.S. patrol was targeted with small-arms fire that wounded one soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover said.

As the soldier was being evacuated, a U.S. vehicle was struck by two roadside bombs, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

The “complex” attack damaged the vehicle and wounded three other soldiers, Stover said, adding that another U.S. vehicle was later damaged by a third roadside bomb.

The U.S. military said its soldiers defended themselves and “killed 28 militants in a four-hour” battle.

Residents said U.S. forces also launched two air strikes in the area which heavily damaged four houses.

But Stover denied that aircraft had been used. The sandstorm had largely grounded U.S. helicopters. Instead, he said U.S. troops used heavy rockets against the militants.

“It was these militants who initiated the engagement by attacking U.S. soldiers,” he said.

Iraqi officials said nine people, including three women and a child, were also killed in the clashes.

“We continually show great restraint and professionalism when attacked and clearly identify the enemy before engaging their positions,” said U.S. commander Colonel Allen Batschelet in a statement.

“The enemy continues to show little regard for innocent civilians, as they fire their weapons from within houses, alleyways and rooftops upon our soldiers.

Iraqi and U.S. forces have been fighting Shiite militiamen in Sadr City since March 25, with some 480 militants and civilians killed to date, according to U.S. and Iraqi figures.

At least 18 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Baghdad since the fighting erupted.

The U.S. military says its troops are deployed only in the southern section of Sadr City in a bid to prevent rocket or mortar fire against the Green Zone, the seat of the U.S. embassy as well as the Iraqi government.

Militants fired several rockets or mortar rounds into the compound on Tuesday, a witness said.

The U.S. military says that those fighting its troops are not loyal to Sadr who has frozen the activities of his Mahdi Army militia since last August.

On Friday, Sadr called for a halt to the fighting against Iraqi government troops, saying that a recent threat he had made to launch an all-out war was directed only at U.S. forces.

Sadr’s spokesman Saleh al-Obeidi said the new fighting was “defeating any chance of a solution to the crisis in a peaceful way.”

“What is going on in Sadr City is a crime against humanity. Nobody can accept it. We condemn this crime committed by the occupier,” he said.

North of Baghdad, in the town of Mukhisa in Diyala province, a female suicide bomber killed two members of a local anti-Qaeda group, the U.S. military said.

Further north, around the oil city of Kirkuk four people were killed and 15 wounded in two bomb attacks, Police Captain Abdullah Hussein said.

A bomb in a shop in the city center selling Iraqi military equipment killed three civilians and wounded seven, he said.

A second bomb north of the city killed a civilian and wounded eight people, three of them soldiers from a passing patrol that was the target of the attack.

AFP