Sadr City

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- American-led forces battled gunmen in Sadr City during two rare forays into the vast Shiite Muslim slum yesterday, killing at least 10 people and drawing a swift rebuke from Iraq's prime minister. The American troops, who called in airstrikes as they came under attack, were searching for a kidnapped U.S. soldier and hunting for a Shiite death squad leader, authorities said. The U.S. military said in a statement that the raid had been authorized by the Iraqi government.

Flying over Iraq this week, Maryland National Guard Col. David W. Carey surveyed miles and miles of emptiness. Where 500 U.S. bases once housed as many as 170,000 troops, the American military footprint had shrunk to two bases and 4,000 soldiers - all with orders to pack up and move out by the end of month. "It's as if you're going to a ghost town," Carey, commander of the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade, said Thursday from Iraq. "I have instructed and encouraged my soldiers to take it all in, take pictures, write stuff down, keep a journal," he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered U.S. and Iraqi forces yesterday to remove roadblocks enclosing a vast Shiite Muslim neighborhood that is part of his power base and a suspected source of death squads. Soon after, U.S. forces withdrew from checkpoints that have restricted movement in and around Sadr City since last week, when troops began searching for a missing U.S. soldier and hunted for a death squad leader there. The order to lift the cordon appeared to be a further attempt by al-Maliki to assert his independence in dealing with Americans at a time when his differences with the Bush administration have grown sharp.

BAGHDAD -- Fighting ebbed and residents began emerging from their homes as a deal to halt the violence took effect yesterday in Sadr City, the Baghdad slum that has been the focus of clashes pitting U.S. and Iraqi forces against militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. But after more than seven weeks of bloodshed, officials and residents were cautious about declaring the hostilities over. U.S. and Iraqi officials said they were limiting operations yesterday to give the agreement negotiated by Shiite political factions, and endorsed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a chance to take hold.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Fighting in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City killed 23 Iraqis yesterday, hospital officials said, and the U.S. military reported five troop deaths, as April showed signs of becoming the worst month for U.S. forces in Iraq since September. At least 11 of the Iraqi deaths occurred when mortar shells landed in residential neighborhoods. Men rushed wounded children to overcrowded emergency rooms in Sadr City hospitals, on foot because of a ban on all vehicular traffic. In some parts of Sadr City, masked militiamen bearing machine guns and grenade launchers remained on the streets.

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. Army said they were militants. Sadr City residents said at least some were civilians, and photographs showed the dust-covered body of at least one child being pulled from a mountain of rubble after yesterday's fighting. Whatever the facts, at least 28 people were dead after the four-hour battle, the latest in a showdown between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen over recent weeks. Based on the photographs, it appeared that at least one of the dead was a civilian.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have moved aggressively in the past week to combat Sunni Arab insurgents in neighborhoods across the capital and to establish a stronger presence in religiously mixed districts troubled by sectarian violence. But as the new security crackdown enters a second week, the forces face their most sensitive challenge: whether, when and how to move into the Shiite-dominated slum of Sadr City, stronghold of the Mahdi army militia. Political pressure has mounted to crack down on the Baghdad neighborhood that harbors the militia loyal to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A bomb exploded yesterday in an alleyway of a vast Shiite slum where women and children had gathered to collect fuel rations on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan, peppering victims with ball bearings and engulfing them in an inferno that killed at least 35. Rescuers entering the alley, which is squeezed between two walls, wrapped themselves in wet blankets as they attempted to reach victims whose clothes had been set ablaze. "We were choosing those who we thought were still alive to carry them out," said Hassan Moosawi, 26, one of the rescuers.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Yousef Badr stood among dozens of fellow laborers who rose early and gathered on a grimy street corner in the Sadr City neighborhood with their battered hand tools and hopes for a day's pay. The bomb blast that shattered their morning ritual, killing 31 people and injuring more than 50 yesterday, was the first large-scale attack on the predominantly Shiite neighborhood in more than a month, and stoked fears that a wave of retaliatory killings...

BAGHDAD -- U.S. aircraft opened fire on an east Baghdad neighborhood yesterday and killed 32 members of an al-Mahdi militia offshoot, the military said, in its latest strike against radical Shiite factions. An Iraqi police official speaking on the condition of anonymity said nine people were killed, at least two of them women. The toll was later updated to 10. Some residents in Sadr City, a Shiite slum largely controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army, described watching as civilians were struck down, but a U.S. military spokesman insisted later they had killed only fighters.

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi delegation that traveled to Iran to confront it with allegations of involvement in Iraqi violence said yesterday that it had secured an agreement to "stabilize security" and improve cooperation. The statements, made upon the delegation's return last night, were in stark contrast to the harsh words Iraqi officials had last week for Iran. They included allegations that Iranian-made weapons with manufacture dates of 2008 had been found in the southern city of Basra in the wake of recent clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. security forces.

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. Army said they were militants. Sadr City residents said at least some were civilians, and photographs showed the dust-covered body of at least one child being pulled from a mountain of rubble after yesterday's fighting. Whatever the facts, at least 28 people were dead after the four-hour battle, the latest in a showdown between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen over recent weeks. Based on the photographs, it appeared that at least one of the dead was a civilian.

BAGHDAD -- Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr reminded his followers yesterday to observe a truce that has been nearing collapse, pulling back from a showdown with fellow Shiite Muslims in the Iraqi government. In a statement read in mosques during Friday prayers, al-Sadr said his recent threat of "open war" was aimed only at U.S.-led forces and urged his followers not to fight Iraqi troops. He also urged the Iraqi police and army "to be close to their people and far from the occupier, because we will not be blessed with peace as long as they occupy our land."

BAGHDAD -- An Arab satellite news channel reported that a man suspected of being Izzat Ibrahim Douri, who tops Iraq's most-wanted list, was captured yesterday by Iraqi soldiers in the northern part of the country. The Al Arabiya channel said that the suspect was caught during a raid in the Hamrin mountains that straddle Salahuddin, Diyala and Tamim provinces and that Iraqi officials were conducting DNA tests to confirm his identity. The U.S. military said it had no information on the raid, and one officer cautioned that there had been previous false alarms about the alleged capture of Douri in 2004 and 2005.

BAGHDAD -- For more than two months, British journalist Richard Butler sat with a hood over his head wondering what his kidnappers in Basra were planning. Yesterday, gunshots rang through the house where he was held. There were shouts. The door to his room burst open, and Butler tore off his hood to see Iraqi army soldiers. They were as surprised to see Butler as he was to see them, according to Iraqi military officials, who described yesterday's rescue of the freelancer, under contract with CBS News, as a lucky find during a search of a house for illegal weapons.

BAGHDAD -- A senior aide to the radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was shot to death yesterday as he returned home from Friday prayers in Najaf. Police declared a curfew in the Shiite holy city and put reinforcements on the streets, fearing a backlash by al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia provoked by the killing of Sayyed Riyadh al-Nouri. Security officials in Najaf said he was in al-Adala neighborhood, a half-mile east of Najaf, when the gunmen pulled over and opened fire, killing him instantly.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces backed by tanks and helicopter gunships battled yesterday to contain a widening Shiite rebellion, pushing deep into the holy city of Najaf and encircling the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City. U.S. commanders in Najaf said they had killed 300 members of the rebel militia loyal to renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr since fighting flared there Thursday. But the figure could not be independently confirmed, and a spokesman for al-Sadr said the toll was 36. Two Marines were killed Thursday, U.S. officials said, bringing to three the number of U.S. deaths in the worst fighting in more than two months.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Militia fighters loyal to a defiant Shiite cleric promised yesterday to lay down their heavy weapons in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, a potential victory for Iraqi officials eager to impose stability ahead of national elections. The agreement, due to go into effect tomorrow, could set the stage for Muqtada al-Sadr to disband his al-Mahdi Army and turn it into a political organization. Aides to the Shiite cleric have been discussing the political path with Iraqi authorities.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Fighting in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City killed 23 Iraqis yesterday, hospital officials said, and the U.S. military reported five troop deaths, as April showed signs of becoming the worst month for U.S. forces in Iraq since September. At least 11 of the Iraqi deaths occurred when mortar shells landed in residential neighborhoods. Men rushed wounded children to overcrowded emergency rooms in Sadr City hospitals, on foot because of a ban on all vehicular traffic. In some parts of Sadr City, masked militiamen bearing machine guns and grenade launchers remained on the streets.

BAGHDAD -- Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened yesterday to formally end an already tattered cease-fire he had ordered his Mahdi Army militia to obey. The radical preacher also canceled plans for a protest march against the Iraqi government and its U.S. allies scheduled for today, after complaining about harassment from the authorities. The warning on the truce came on the day that U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker testified to Congress about the situation in Iraq and as U.S.-led forces continued to battle militants in Baghdad.