Violence continues in Iraq even though anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Shiite militiamen off the streets. There was fighting in the Basra area after the announcement. Seven people were killed when a mortar struck a residential district in Baghdad, one of two reported clashes today in the capital.
In his statement, al-Sadr called on the government to stop its raids against his followers. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the statement is "a step in the right direction." Iraqi authorities say a curfew in Baghdad would be lifted tomorrow morning.
Also today, a U.S. airstrike has killed 25 suspected militants after American ground forces came under heavy fire in predominantly Shiite eastern Baghdad. And the U.S. military reports an American soldier and a Marine were killed in separate roadside bombings in Baghdad and in Anbar province west of the capital. |