BAGHDAD, Iraq – The U.S.-led coalition said it killed 30 fighters in a battle Sunday with the country’s most powerful Shiite militia amid growing American impatience with the Iraqi government’s inability to stop militias responsible for escalating sectarian violence.
The clash was the second with the Mahdi Army in the predominantly Shiite southern city of Diwaniyah in as many months. Officials from the party of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which heads the militia, denied any of their fighters were killed.
A U.S. Abrams tank was seriously damaged when it was hit by rocket-propelled grenades, but no casualties were reported among the U.S. or Iraqi forces.
However, the military announced the deaths of five U.S. troops elsewhere in the country. Two soldiers were killed Saturday – one in the capital and the other northwest of Baghdad – while three Marines were killed Friday in western Anbar province, the military said without elaborating.
The deaths brought to 29 the number of Americans killed in Iraq this month – many of them in Baghdad as part of a district-by-district crackdown aimed at reducing mounting violence by clearing the city of weapons and fighters.
At least 14 Iraqis also died in other violence around the country Sunday, including a Shiite woman and her young daughter who were killed when gunmen opened fire on their minivan in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad. The driver also was killed, and the woman’s husband and her brother were wounded.
Police also found 51 bullet-riddled bodies in various parts of Baghdad during a 24-hour period ending Sunday morning, police 1st Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said. They were all apparent victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital, with many of the bodies showing signs of torture.
U.S. military personnel recently killed in Iraq:
A Fort Lewis soldier was killed in Mosul when his Stryker vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, according to a published report. The soldier, whose name was not immediately released, died Saturday and was with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, The News Tribune of Tacoma reported.
Army Staff Sgt. James D. Ellis, 25, Valdosta, Ga.; Army Spc. Raymond S. Armijo, 22, Phoenix; Army Spc. Justin R. Jarrett, 21, Jonesboro, Ga.; Army Spc. Kristofer C. Walker, 20, Creve Coeur, Ill.; died Oct. 2 in Taji of injuries received when an explosive detonated near their vehicle; assigned to the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
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