| At least 72 people were killed and 148 wounded on Thursday in US air raids and fighting between the Iraqi police and Shi'ite militia in the southern city of Kut, a Health Ministry official said. Falah al-Dirmani told Reuters the casualties were taken to hospitals in the city, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Security sources said most of the victims fell when US warplanes bombed a district controlled by Mehdi Army militia at dawn. Smoke rose from Kut's police headquarters as explosions rattled the city and gunfire crackled. One hysterical woman screamed as a man carried a child in his arms and ran down a street. One man sat dazed on the sidewalk as people wrapped bandages around his wounds. A black shoe lay in a pool of blood. Mehdi Army militiamen, loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, had killed five police in clashes on Wednesday. |