The US military said that its troops have killed up to 49
"criminals" in a raid on Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr
City early on Sunday.
"Collation forces estimate that 49 criminals were killed in
three separate engagements during this operation," the US military
said in a statement.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry source told Xinhua earlier that 13
people, including one woman and two children, were killed, along
with more than 52 people injured.
The US military said no evidence had been found civilian
casualties occurred in the trade of fire.
Earlier, the military said that six suspected militants were
killed during the raid that targeted a Special Groups member
specializing in kidnapping operations.
The Special Groups are Shiite militia extremists funded, trained
and armed by external sources, specifically by Iranian
Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force operatives, according to the
US military.
The interior ministry source said the militants were believed to
be members of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to radical
Shiitecleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Based on intelligence reports, the targeted individual "is a
well-known cell leader and has previously sought funding from Iran
to carry out high profile kidnappings," the US military said,
without making clear weather the marked man had been arrested or
killed.
A US military spokesman said in an earlier statement that the
cell leader was believed to be behind kidnappings of coalition
force soldiers, including one in May this year.
A US patrol was ambushed on May 12 in south of Baghdad. Four
soldiers and an Iraqi translator were killed, and three soldiers
were missing. The body of one was found later that month but the
other two remain unknown.
During the house to house searches in the area on Sunday, the
troops encountered attacks from militiamen armed with machine guns
and rocket propelled grenades from nearby structures, according to
the statement.
The US troops fired back and called in aerial support, killing
39 militants, it said.
While leaving the targeted area, the troops clashed again with
another group of militants after they were attacked by a roadside
bomb followed with gunfire, killing 10 more other militants, it
added.
Sadr City is a stronghold of Mahdi Army. Sadr offered a
six-month freeze of armed activities for his militia at the end of
August.
(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2007)
