IRAQ: US and Iraqi troops killed 30 Shia militiamen in fierce street battles in the southern city of Diwaniya yesterday, the US military said.
People were ordered to stay indoors after explosions and machinegun fire shook the city's central districts for more than five hours. The military said US and Iraqi forces were trying to arrest a "high-value" target.
The fighting underlined the chronic insecurity gripping Iraq, where an estimated 100 people die violently every day.
Police reported 28 deaths elsewhere in Iraq, including the discovery in Baghdad of the bullet-riddled body of a senior interior ministry official. The US military said three marines had been killed on Friday in western Iraq and two soldiers were killed on Saturday, bringing to 29 the number killed in the past eight days. US forces typically suffer two to three deaths a day.
The US military said Iraqi troops had arrested the "high-value" target over the deaths of 20 Iraqi soldiers in a battle with militiamen in Diwaniya on August 28th.
Diwaniya's southern districts are a stronghold for the Mehdi army militia of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose movement is a key player in the government of national unity. A Mehdi army official denied any involvement in the fighting and blamed rogue gunmen.