Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
April 12, 2008

US, Iraqi Forces Kill 13 Insurgents in Baghdad 
-----------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1BDD1A5:A6F02AD83191E160413A220EF75DE68298CBE7246176B735& 
Military says US, Iraqi forces battled fighters who attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, rifles and roadside bombs 






Iraqi Armys soldiers talk to an Iraqi woman as she leaves through a checkpoint from the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, 8 Apr 2008The U.S. military says coalition forces killed at least 13 militants early Saturday in fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City.

The military says U.S. and Iraqi forces battled fighters who attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, rifles and roadside bombs. 

The joint forces say they used a missile from a drone aircraft and tank fire against the militants.  

Iraqi police say seven civilians were killed in the fighting.  Military officials say there were no casualties among the U.S. or Iraqi soldiers. 

Despite today's battles, authorities eased a blockade on Sadr City, a stronghold of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, where coalition forces have been fighting militants for the last two weeks.







Defense Secretary Robert Gates testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the future of Iraq, 10 Apr 2008Meanwhile, a curfew imposed in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf has been lifted one day after Riyadh al-Nouri, Sadr's senior aide, was gunned down near his home.  

Tensions between Sadr's militia and U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces erupted into violence when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shi'ite militias in the southern city of Basra last month.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday called Sadr a significant political figure, adding that the United States wants him to work within the Iraqi political process.  

Sadr has not been seen in public since May of last year, and is thought to be in Iran.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.



.