BAGHDAD, Iraq - Fighting erupted early Monday in a Shiite militia stronghold
of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber blew himself up among mourners at a funeral in
Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing 10 people and injuring 22.
An Iraqi mourns in
Baghdad's neighborhood of Sadr city during the funeral of his relative who
was killed yesterday afternoon along with eight others by unknown gunmen.
Iraq's president gave his government's battered armed forces a massive
vote of confidence, vowing that they will take full charge of security in
their country by the end of the year.[AFP] |
Three U.S. soldiers were killed late Sunday in a roadside bombing southwest
of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. No further details were released.
In Baghdad, sounds of heavy gunfire and explosions rattled the Sadr City
district starting about 1 a.m. Monday. Iraqi government television and aides to
radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said U.S. aircraft were attacking
buildings in the area.
"Several aerial and ground raids began in central Sadr City," al-Sadr aide
Jaleel al-Nouri said by telephone as detonations could be heard in the
background. "We can see several houses on fire."
Kadhim al-Mohammedawi, a civil servant who lives in Sadr City, said by
telephone that he could see two houses ablaze and "there's gunfire from all
sides."
"We can hear women and children screaming," he said.
Col. Hassan Chaloub, police chief of Sadr City, said U.S. jets were flying
over the city and at least three houses were ablaze. He said calls of "God is
Great" and "There's no God but God" were blasting from loudspeakers in area
mosques.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military, which has reinforced
its troop strength in the city to try to reclaim the streets from militias,
including al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Late Sunday, scattered clashes broke out between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi
soldiers near Hamza Square on the edge of Sadr City, police said. Two militiamen
were killed and five combatants were wounded, including two Iraqi soldiers,
police said.
About the same time, gunmen ambushed a police patrol in south Baghdad,
killing two policemen and wounding five others, police said.
The attack on the mourners occurred about 8:15 p.m. in Tikrit, 80 miles north
of Baghdad. The bomber mingled among the crowd in a funeral hall and detonated
an explosive belt, police said.
Police Capt. Laith Hamid, who gave the casualty figure, said the mourners
were attending services for the father of a local council member, who was killed
in the attack. Part of the ceiling collapsed and some people might be trapped
under the rubble, Hamid added.
Later, the attacker's vehicle was found and detonated as a safety measure in
case it was rigged as a car bomb, police said.
