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US forces kill 21 Iraqis in Baghdad clashes
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-15 23:48
U.S. forces have killed 21 Iraqis and wounded at least 10 in operations in
Baghdad in the past 24 hours in an effort to restore stability to the capital, a
U.S. military spokesman said on Saturday.
Iraqi Shi'ite
youths throw stones at a U.S. military convoy in the center of the most
populated Shi'ite district of Al-Sadr city, in Baghdad, May 15, 2004.
U.S.-led forces battled insurgents around some of the holiest Shi'ite
shrines in Iraq on Saturday.
[Reuters] |
Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt,
deputy director of operations for the U.S. military in Iraq, said most were
killed during operations in the Sadr City neighborhood of northeast Baghdad,
where radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr draws support.
"In the Thawra district (Sadr City), coalition forces continue to conduct
offensive operations to restore stability resulting in 14 enemy killed and 10
wounded," Kimmitt told a news conference, saying the toll was from the past 24
hours.
He said there had been a "minor uprising" in several spots, including the
southern cities of Nassiriya and Amara, where Shi'ite Muslim militants loyal to
Sadr are concentrated, and in Sadr City itself, but said militants had been
quelled.
"There was a minor uprising, and the coalition forces handled those and
things seem to be much quieter today," Kimmitt said.
In a separate incident, a U.S. patrol in western Baghdad came under fire
earlier on Saturday from insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades and small
arms, Kimmitt said. U.S. troops returned fire, killing seven people.
In Kerbala, a Shi'ite holy city about 68 miles southwest of Baghdad, Kimmitt
said four Iraqi fighters had been killed in fighting between U.S. troops and
militiamen loyal to Sadr, who has been leading an uprising against U.S. forces
for the past month.
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