Baghdad clashes 'leave 400 dead'
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Baghdad clashes 'leave 400 dead'*
More than 400 people have been killed in fighting over the last month
between Shia militias and US and Iraqi forces, hospital officials in
Baghdad say.
The fighting has been concentrated in the capital's eastern district of
Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of the cleric, Moqtada
Sadr.
Five US soldiers have been killed in fighting in Baghdad since Tuesday.
April has been the most lethal month for US troops in Iraq, with 49
deaths, since September, when 65 soldiers died.
The US military said two soldiers were killed on Wednesday afternoon in
southern Baghdad when a bomb exploded near their patrol. A third was
killed by a roadside bombing overnight in the north.
Two US soldiers were killed in the north-west of the city on Tuesday
evening in separate attacks. The first died when he came under
small-arms fire, while the other was killed by a roadside bomb.
Hospitals 'struggling'
The large number of casualties came after US and Iraqi forces launched
an offensive in March to disarm militias in Baghdad and the southern
city of Basra.
The clashes in the capital flared up again on Sunday after militia
members attacked coalition positions during a sandstorm.
An Iraqi boy peers through rubble after an airstrike in eastern Baghdad 29/4
Many civilians have been caught up in the Baghdad clashes
The US military said at least 28 militants were killed during battles in
the Sadr City area of the capital on Tuesday, while four US soldiers
were killed by rocket and mortar fire in the east of the capital on Monday.
Doctors said more than 50 civilians were injured in the fighting on Tuesday.
The two main hospitals in Sadr City are struggling to cope with the
recent influx of casualties, officials at the Imam Ali and the Sadr
General hospitals have said.
More than 400 people have died and almost 2,500 others have been injured
since the end of March, they added.
Staff at the hospitals are worried they are running out of clean water
and do not have enough severe trauma specialists to treat all those who
need help.
An Iraqi government spokesman, Tahsin al-Sheikhli, later said as many as
925 people had died in the Sadr City fighting, but he gave no timeframe
or further details about how the figure was reached.
An independent website, icasualties.org, estimates that 4,058 US
soldiers, and 310 soldiers from other nations, have been killed in Iraq
since the 2003 invasion.
Another website run by academics and peace activists, iraqbodycount.net,
estimates up to 90,782 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the same period.
Government defiant
Later, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki vowed not to ease the military
offensive until all militias, both Sunni and Shia, were crushed.
Speaking at a news conference in Baghdad, he said the militias were no
better then al-Qaeda because they brought instability and destruction to
Iraq.
We will use force until we reach the end and get rid of the weapons and
gangs who are carrying weapons
Nouri Maliki-Iraqi Prime Minister
Last week Moqtada Sadr told his supporters that while they should
continue "resisting" what he called the US "occupation", they should not
fight Iraqis. He also rejected the government's demands.
The BBC's Clive Myrie in Baghdad says this is the first time the prime
minister, himself a Shia, has tried to crush the Shia militias.
Intense pressure from the Sunni and Kurdish members of his government,
and behind the scenes from the US government, has helped force his hand,
our correspondent says.
In the eyes of some, Mr Maliki is finally being seen as a leader of all
Iraqis, not just the Shia majority, he adds.